Zendaya reveals what Serena Williams said after watching 'Challengers'

Actor Zendaya who portrays a former tennis prodigy in her next film has revealed what tennis ace Serena Williams thought about her latest performance in ‘Challengers.’

The actress, who plays Tashi Duncan, a tennis player-turned-coach in the Luca Guadagnino-directed film, said: “She was like, ‘I know there definitely weren’t real [tennis] balls,’” Zendaya recalled. “She knows. She’s the best of the best.”

The actress from “Dune: Part Two” also mentioned that Williams offered some compliments, noting, “She did say that it was great considering that I had never, never touched a tennis ball before.”

The romantic sports comedy, featuring Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor, follows “three players who knew each other when they were teenagers as they compete in a tennis tournament to be the world-famous grand slam winner and reignite old rivalries on and off the court,” according to the film’s synopsis.

Zendaya previously expressed her apprehension about Williams seeing her tennis skills, and “apologised in advance” to her and her sister Venus Williams.

Earlier this week, at the Los Angeles debut of ‘Challengers,’ the ‘Euphoria’ sensation shared with The Hollywood Reporter that she received guidance from her “Dune” colleague Timothee Chalamet regarding collaborating with Guadagnino. Chalamet featured in Guadagnino’s 2017 production “Call Me By Your Name.”

“He said wonderful things,” Zendaya, who is also a producer on the film, shared. “Luca is brilliant and I’ve wanted to work with Luca for a very long time and this just seemed like the absolute perfect thing.”