‘My Tennis Maestro’ Review: Pierfrancesco Favino Serves Stubbly Charm in an Appealing Italian Dramedy

Tennis has been having a center-court moment at the movies lately, and Andrea di Stefano’s enjoyably raffish “My Tennis Maestro” officially makes it a trend. More specifically, it has been stories of male players approaching, or retreating from, the end of their competitive careers that have been firing the collective filmmaking imagination, as di Stefano’s movie confirms. Think of Josh O’Connor’s character from Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” in a few years’ time, or Sam Riley’s in Jan-Ole Gerster’s “Islands” in even fewer, and you land close to Pierfrancesco Favino’s turn here: an aged-out pro-player who almost, but never quite, hit the real big time, and is now prowling the lower circuits and junior tournaments, bedding tanned tennis ladies and looking for coaching opportunities to pay the bills.

With his wolfish grin and rascally vibe, his hungover eyes concealed by mirrored aviators, Favino plays the…