“Zendaya watched more WTA matches than Aryna Sabalenka” - Fans react to Challengers star revealing she watched 'every tennis video' to prep for role

Zendaya has drawn comparisons to Aryna Sabalenka after the Hollywood star's recent admission that she watched every tennis video online in order to prepare for the upcoming movie 'Challengers.'

Promotions for the highly anticipated movie are at a high. The cast, as well as the writer of the film Justin Kuritzkes, recently sat down for an interview with Vogue. Zendaya said that prior to shooting the film she only knew about Serena Williams and Roger Federer but for her preparation she saw every video and became a big fan of the sport.

“I was not a tennis person before this. All I really knew was, like, Serena and Roger Federer. So I just threw myself in there. I’ve pretty much seen every video, every match that’s online. It became my thing,” the actress said.

Fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to react to the 27-year-old actress' comments, with one joking that she had watched more WTA matches than Aryna Sabalenka. Sabalenka recently claimed that she watched more men's matches as she found them more interesting.

"zendaya watched more wta tennis matches than world no. 2 aryna sabalenka," the fan wrote.

Another fan was in splits at the thought of Zendaya watching Jelena Ostapenko highlights to prepare for her role.

"dying at the thought of zendaya watching ostapenko highlights on youtube to prepare for a role," they wrote.

Some fans homorously listed tennis matches the actress should have watched.

"So what shot did Inglis hit at 30/30 at 5-2 in the third set of her epic 2nd round match against Hailey Baptiste at the Australian open 2022 that gave her a match point she would go on to take?" A fan jokingly asked.

The way Zendaya probably watched most of sabinelisickifansss tennis compilation videos including “ALL 20 Semifinal LOSS of Maria Sakkari (SAD)” A fan said.

"Thank God the movie is done otherwise she would have had to watch today’s 4-hour Errani-Wozniacki atrocity…" A fan mentioned.

While others talked about how the actress is now a fan of the game.

"Don’t be shy, tell us how you were traumatized and scarred by Wimby 2019. This is a safe space." mentioned another fan

"Come on" inspired by Penko." A fan speculated

"someone once told me that there are two kinds of people: the ones that don’t know tennis and the ones that are completely obsessed with it and i think it’s so true like you either don’t know anything about it or you know everything about it there’s no in between" said another fan

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In the same interview with Vogue, Zendaya spoke about what her character in the film, Tashi Duncan, stands for and what tennis means to her.

“All of her background is riding on her shoulders. It’s clear that she’s had to fight her way in, and is dealing with it on the daily, what it means to be a Black girl in that space."

"Tennis means more to her than it does to them; it’s not just something she decided to do because ‘I had the luxury of getting tennis lessons as a kid.’ This is it for her. This is what’s going to take care of herself and her family and the future. There’s so much riding on it.”

Challengers will be released on IMAX screens on April 26.