"I told my boyfriend, Thank God you don't play tennis" - Coco Gauff on relating to Zendaya's 'Challengers' role & the prevalence of throuples on tour
Coco Gauff spoke recently about relating to Zendaya's character in the newly released 'Challengers' movie, joking that she, like Tashi Duncan, would not enjoy the idea of dating a 'scrub' on the tennis tour.
In the film, Zendaya plays the role of a former tennis prodigy who then becomes the coach of her husband (Art Donaldson, played by Mike Faist) and helps him on his goal of achieving the Career Grand Slam. The movie takes place during Donaldson's penultimate tournament before the US Open, where he comes face to face with a former friend-turned-rival (Patrick Zweig, played by Josh O'Connor) while struggling with form.
Speaking to the press at the 2024 Italian Open in her pre-tournament press conference, Gauff, who had recently watched the film, shared her thoughts on the movie and Zendaya's character in particular. Gauff joked that she did not personally know of any throuples on the tour (as Zendaya-Faist-O'Connor develop a complicated throuple relationship in the movie), nor was she in one.
Gauff, however, admitted that she was drawn to Tashi Duncan's mentality on the court, and that she could relate to it. The American also joked that after watching the movie she told her boyfriend how thankful she was that he did not play tennis, seeing as she could not have put up with dating a washed-up player.
"I don't know any [throuples] going on on tour. There probably are some, but I'm not in it. I'm not Tashi Duncan. I don't know any Tashi Duncans. I did relate to her mentality on the court, not everything going on off the court. I did relate to that of just, like, that," Gauff said.
"Also there's a part of the movie, I told my boyfriend, Thank God you don't play tennis, because she's right, I would not want to date a scrub on tour (laughter). That's the only relatable part I have about Tashi, otherwise she's not a nice character to how she treated her husband," she added
"I thought it was a great movie, I enjoyed the romance" - Coco Gauff on 'Challengers'
Coco Gauff then admitted that she personally enjoyed the romance portions of 'Challengers' and that she thought the tennis portion of the movie was done rather well. She also commended the main cast on their acting, saying that they outdid her expectations when it came to the on-screen tennis scenes.
"I thought it was a great movie. I enjoyed the romance and the throuple situation, the very unique characters. I thought the tennis was done pretty well. Was it 100% perfect? No. But that's every sporting movie," Coco Gauff said.
"I thought the actors themselves did a good job. I was expecting it to be not as well done just because of looking at their interviews, they were pretty much downplaying it a lot. I thought overall they did a great job," she added.
However, the World No. 3 reserved her best praise for the set designers of the movie, emphasizing how accurate the logos and signage were.
"I think for me the MVP definitely goes to the people who designed the set. I feel like that was the most accurate when it came to the signage and the logos and all of that. Obviously the acting was incredible and the story was also pretty good," Coco Gauff said.
"I think the more you deep dive into the movie, the more enjoyable the movie becomes," she added.
At the 2024 Italian Open, Coco Gauff has received a bye in the first round and will take on either Magdalena Frech or Ashlyn Krueger in the second round.