Naomi Osaka is doing her finest Zendaya impression.
In a video posted to TikTok on Thursday, Could 2, the four-time Grand Slam champion, 26, paid playful homage to Challengers, the hit romantic drama starring Zendaya as a tennis phenom caught in a steamy love triangle.
“Nobody: Me after watching Challengers,” Osaka captioned her publish, by which she slid on her sun shades, spun her racket and confirmed off her serve. For the background music, she selected the super-intense synth rating from the film.
Just lately, the film’s screenwriter, Justin Kuritzkes, mentioned that he was impressed to write down the script after watching Osaka beat her idol, Serena Williams, in an upset victory on the 2018 U.S. Open. Osaka was then 20 years outdated — a prodigy identical to Zendaya’s character, Tashi Duncan, although Kuritzkes didn’t base Tashi upon Osaka. Her famously riveting match with Williams, nonetheless, was one other story.
Zendaya is bringing the drama from the tennis court docket to the purple carpet whereas selling her new film, Challengers. The Emmy winner stars as Tashi Duncan within the drama, directed by Luca Guadagnino, a tennis prodigy whose profession is minimize quick by an harm. She begins teaching, ultimately turning her husband (Mike Faist) right into a […]
“Instantly, this struck me as this intensely cinematic state of affairs the place you’re on their own in your aspect of the court docket and there’s this one different individual on this huge tennis stadium who cares as a lot about what occurs to you as you do, however you may’t discuss to them,” Kuritzkes mentioned in a press convention final month, per Enterprise Insider.
@naomiosaka 😁😂 #challengers #tennistiktok #funnymoments
♬ Challengers [MIXED] (Challengers Soundtrack) – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross & Boys Noize
The match was an infamously tense one, with Williams, the fan favourite, arguing with chair umpire Carlos Ramos for giving her three code violations. “[Y]ou stole a degree from me, you’re a thief, too,” she instructed Ramos.
After the sport, which Osaka gained 6-2, 6-4, the rivals stood subsequent to at least one one other whereas observers within the stands booed the consequence. Osaka coated her face together with her visor and cried. Williams hugged Osaka, who instructed the group, “I do know that everybody was cheering for [Williams]. I’m sorry it needed to finish like this. I simply need to say thanks for watching the match.”
Since her first Met Gala in 2015, Zendaya has develop into a staple on the annual ball. The actress delivers drama at every Met she graces with the usage of textures, prints and colours. She doesn’t shrink back from boundary-pushing silhouettes and effortlessly modernizes dated aesthetics. Zendaya additionally completely enhances her ensembles by taking part in up her […]
It was at that second, Kuritzkes mentioned, the story for Challengers clicked in his thoughts. “Effectively, what when you actually wanted to speak about one thing? And what if it was one thing past tennis?” he defined. “What if it was one thing that was occurring with the 2 of you? And what if it concerned the individual on the opposite aspect of the online? How would you might have that dialog and the way may you talk the strain of that state of affairs utilizing the instruments which are particular to movie?”
The drama in Challengers revolves round a pivotal sport between former finest pals Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Artwork Donaldson (Mike Faist), who’s married to Tashi, his coach. Including to the strain, Patrick is the previous lover she simply can’t give up. The film, directed by Luca Guadagnino, opened No. 1. in theaters final weekend.
(If Osaka desires to make one other social-media tribute, she may take into account carrying the “I TOLD YA” T-shirt that Zendaya made viral.)
