Zendaya is taking her upcoming role in Challengers, the tennis drama directed by Luca Guadagnino, seriously. Yesterday, she and her boyfriend—actor Tom Holland—were spotted at the 2024 Indian Wells tournament in California, watching the women's finals.
For the occasion, Zendaya leaned into tenniscore, wearing a very chic, ivory tennis spectator outfit. The star wore a Louis Vuitton zip-up pullover, and a matching ivory pleated skort. She accessorized with the brand's Ellipse BB Bag.
And, for the match, Zendaya wore On Running's Roger Centre Court sneakers—designed by none other than tennis great Roger Federer himself. Per the brand, "Co-created by On and Roger Federer. Born from a shared passion for performance and style, the Roger Centre Court is the classic tennis-inspired sneaker evolved."
At Indian Wells, Zendaya and Hollander watched world no. 1 Iga Swiatek cruise to victory over Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0. After Swiatek's victory, she met Zendaya. "Meeting Zendaya was crazy, but on the other hand, she's a human like all of us," Swiatek said after. "So I was just happy that she's enjoying tennis and she's having this movie with a tennis theme coming out. So that should be really exciting. She can practice with me any time if she wants to."
The tennis star added, "But for sure, it was fun, and she's a really great person. I feel pretty privileged that I'm in this place where I can meet these kinds of people."
In Challengers, Zendaya plays tennis star Tashi Duncan. For the role, she trained with Brad Gilbert (currently Coco Gauff's coach). Per the New York Times, Gilbert and Zendaya "started showing up at Pepperdine University tennis matches to help her understand the game. There were three months of training in California, then four months of rehearsal and filming in Boston and New York."
"She’s wonderful," Guadagnino told Variety about Zendaya's tennis skills. "I mean, wow. We edited the movie and we almost actually don’t use any of her double. She’s so good." All three leads (she co-stars with Josh O'Connor of The Crown, and Mike Faist of West Side Story), Guadagnino added "spent like three months working very hard—technically, athletically."
Here's hoping Zendaya's press tour for Challenges includes plenty of tennis-inspired outfits.
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
