"More iconic than the Margot Robbie Barbie looks?" - Fans in awe as Zendaya flaunts tennis ball heels at Challengers promotional event

Zendaya was recently in Rome to promote and attend the Italian premiere of her tennis-themed film Challengers. Her photocall ahead of the premiere raised eyebrows as the actress and singer sported custom-made footwear featuring tennis balls.

Challengers, set for an April 26 release in the USA, revolves around the character of Tashi Duncan (played by Zendaya). Duncan, a tennis prodigy who transitioned into a coaching role, hopes to help her husband put an end to his losing streak. However, an unexpected plot twist shakes things up when he must play against his former best friend, who also happens to be his wife's ex-boyfriend.

Recently, Zendaya attended a photocall in Rome for promoting Challengers. The 27-year-old wore a custom-designed silver Loewe dress and custom white pumps that featured tennis balls as their heels.

The actress and singer's choice of footwear drew an eclectic variety of reactions from tennis fans. One set of fans was awestruck by Zendaya's look. These fans drew comparisons with Margot Robbie, who was in the news last year for appearing at Barbie promotional events last year donning based on themes from the Oscar-nominated film.

"Is it too early to say these outfits are more iconic than the Margot Robbie Barbie looks?", a fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

"Margot Robbie's Barbie press tour ended so that Zendayas Challengers press tour could begin", another fan chimed in.

"Zendaya, Margot Robbie y sus estilistas (and their stylists) know what they are doing," commented another fan.

Another set of fans were of the opinion that right now, no one in the film industry did press tours like Zendaya.

"The tennis ball heels… no one is doing movie press tour fashion like her," a fan commented.

"Absolutely no one does it like Zendaya," another fan wrote.

"No one will EVER do press the way she does press," one fan opined.

However, there were a few fans who went against popular opinion and expressed their dislike for Zendaya's look for the photocall in Rome.

"By her standards this is disappointing," one fan wrote.

"Stunning woman, love the dress, hate the shoes," another fan commented.

"This is fun and all but I’m not feeling the very obvious referencing she is doing. I like when it’s subtle," wrote another fan.

Zendaya witnessed Iga Swiatek win the 19th singles title of her tennis career in Indian Wells.

Iga Swiatek (L) with the BNP Paribas Open trophy, poses with Zendaya (R)

Zendaya attended the women's singles final at the 2024 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells with boyfriend Tom Holland. Iga Swiatek won the final after beating Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0.

After the Pole's resounding win, Zendaya interacted with her and posed for photos. Later, a thrilled Swiatek told the press how it felt for her to meet the actress. The WTA World No. 1 expressed her excitement at the actress and singer's upcoming tennis-centric film.

"Meeting Zendaya was crazy, but on the other hand, she's a human like all of us. So I was just happy that she's enjoying tennis and she's, you know, having this movie with tennis theme coming out. So that should be really exciting," Swiatek said during her post-match press conference.