Zendaya is the darling of the tennis world and the object of lust for two rival players-cum-lovers in Luca Guadagnino’s steamy-looking Challengers. And Twitter is struggling to contain itself.
The trailer shows the actress as teenager Tashi Duncan, who instigates a threesome with two other young tennis stars, played by Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist. She then smiles cheekily as Rihanna’s S&M plays, fuelling plenty of jokes on social media about whether this was the real reason for Zendaya’s real-life boyfriend Tom Holland deciding to take a year off acting.
Years later, Duncan is now Tashi Donaldson, having married Faist’s character Art, but they have never quite buried the fling they had in their youth with O’Connor’s Patrick. Challengers climaxes with Art on a losing streak facing a final grudge match against Patrick with perhaps more at stake than ATP ranking points.
Challengers is set to have a cinematic release in September.
Guandagnino has previously directed Call Me By Your Name and last year was behind romantic horror film Bones and All. The director told Variety magazine that Zendaya trained for three months with top professional tennis coach Brad Gilbert to get in shape for the role. And, by the end, the 26-year-old was so convincing as a player that stand-in performers were not needed.
“I mean, wow,” the Italian director said. “We edited the movie and we almost actually don’t use any of her double. She’s so good.”
But while Zendaya’s tennis form is impressive, it is her personal life that has got people tweeting the most furiously. The trailer comes just a few days after Holland told the Hollywood Reporter about their relationship, which had been under wraps.
The couple met when filming Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016.
Here are some of the best Twitter memes about, perhaps, how Holland might be feeling
FREE TOM HOLLAND pic.twitter.com/tQzHQDuHvv
— MrCactusJack🌵 (@MrCactusJack69) June 20, 2023
Tom holland rn pic.twitter.com/XOctpy4uzS
— FEARLΞSS (@Fearless0eth) June 20, 2023
Tom Holland trying to sleep at night knowing Zendaya gets tag teamed https://t.co/aRpZ1YrjPU pic.twitter.com/SNhFuAkwNL
— Tetsuo 𒉭 (@TetsuoTheGoat) June 20, 2023
tom holland after visiting her on set https://t.co/BEJrDKwtTz pic.twitter.com/ro7hvUyXxU
— albert (@albert12798) June 20, 2023
tom holland watching zendaya right now: pic.twitter.com/LmLwJ5UP4q
— fran saw Flash ✨ (@hpspideywayne) June 20, 2023
