Zendaya is your latest friendly neighborhood tennis player.
And with that role in Challengers, she's fulfilling a coincidental prophecy: All Spider-Man love interests—including Kirsten Dunst and Emma Stone—have gone on to star in tennis films.
"I thought that was quite funny," the actress told E! News' Will Marfuggi in an exclusive interview. "Could you imagine? I'm like, 'You know what I have to do next? It's in the prophecy!'" (Catch more of Zendaya's interview on E! News airing tonight, April 22 at 11 p.m.)
After all, following her role as Mary Jane in 2002's Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire, Kirsten starred in 2004's Wimbledon. Meanwhile, Emma took on Battle of the Sexes in 2017 after her Gwen Stacey romanced Andrew Garfield's superhero in The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012.
While Zendaya inadvertently followed in the footsteps of her marvelous predecessors, taking on her new role—during which she plays a tennis star whose playing career abruptly ends following a devastating injury—required some major introspection.
"My entry point became grief and loss of a career or a life that she wanted or could have had," she explained. "While I don't think that specific thing has happened to me, I think I have dealt with grief before in many different ways. Just this idea: I love what I do, I feel so grateful to do what I do and I'm happiest when I'm on a set. So, in moments where I can't have that or this idea of it being taken away, it would be devastating."
"I couldn't imagine mentally how that would affect me as a human being and how I would show up in the world," Zendaya admitted. "I mean, hopefully, I wouldn't make some of the decisions she makes, but I still empathize with that idea."
While she's found a way to connect with her character the athletic requirements were more challenging. In fact, Zendaya and Josh O'Connor didn't necessarily take to the sport as well as their costar Mike Faist.
"On day one, when I came in," Josh explained to E! News during the joint interview with Zendaya and Mike, "there was a racket here, and I was like, 'How do you hold this thing?'"
To which the Euphoria star quipped back, "I was like, ‘Bro, don't ask me.'"
Tennis might not be her forte, but serving iconic looks is. During the run up to Challengers' April 26 release, the 27-year-old has continued to turn heads with the tennis-inspired looks she and stylist Law Roach have coordinated. Take, for example, her London premiere look: Zendaya arrived in a white gown with long pleats, a polo-inspired collar and a tennis racket print.
"We have fun building these different characters during the press tour," she recently told E! News, "and drawing influence and inspiration from the film."
Keep reading to see more of Zendaya's jaw-dropping fashion looks.