American superstar Zendaya stunned the tennis world in 2024! She was spotted playing the role of Tashi Duncan in the American romantic sports drama film, Challengers (2024). Talking about the film, it’s all about the love triangle between an injured tennis star-turned-coach (Zendaya), her low-circuit tennis player ex-boyfriend (Josh O’Connor), and her tennis champion husband (Mike Faist) across 13 years of their relationship. Zendaya received training from none other than Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, for this film. Recently, both Zendaya and Gilbert got a special mention on an iconic American Quiz Show. Which show was it, though?

Brad Gilbert was recently spotted watching ‘Jeopardy!’. For those who are unaware, it’s mainly an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. It’s basically a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many other quiz shows, but how? Well, rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given general knowledge clues in the form of answers and they must identify the person, place, thing, or idea that the clue describes, phrasing each response in the form of a question. Guess the question that popped up on Gilbert’s screen?

Well, the clue for this one was, “I was at the tennis club working on my backhand; Zendaya had offered me a few tips she got from pro-Brad Gilbert for this 2024 film.”

The contestant answered, “Challengers,” and Coco Gauff’s former coach shared that video clip on his X account with the caption, “@Jeopardy very cool 😎.”

Gilbert played an important role in the making of ‘Challengers’ imparting tennis training lessons to the cast for almost three months. Speaking on Gilbert’s role in this film, Zendaya said, “We had an incredible group of people that we were surrounded by to train. We had many many weeks of t\ennis training under the guidance of Brad Gilbert, who is an iconic tennis coach himself.” How difficult was it for her to get accustomed to all these things?

“We just trained beside each other, we did our tennis practice beside each other, we did rehearsals beside each other and we had incredible tennis doubles as well that we learned from and worked beside and who also made us look good. Listen, tennis is no joke. I have such a respect and admiration for the game, for the sport, and the people who play. It is tough,” said Zendaya. She even once admitted that she had limited tennis knowledge before signing up for the film, ‘Challengers.’

During an interview with Vogue, Zendaya even said that she made up her mind to treat tennis like a dance form requiring duplicating footwork. Later on, while speaking about her performance in this film, Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, said, “Zendaya is definitely athletic. She’s a dancer and she can move and be balanced. That’s very much part of tennis.“

During a podcast with Andy Roddick, Gilbert also revealed, “I really think that working with Zendaya kind of really maybe, was impetus for good experience for working with Coco.” We even saw him taking Zendaya to watch two college tennis matches. So, they were deeply engrossed with the racquet over those three months. So, Gilbert and Zendaya managed to build a strong bond between them these days, but how is the relationship between Gauff and Zendaya? Do they know each other?

Coco Gauff and Zendaya reflect their admiration for each other

When Coco Gauff won the 2023 US Open, Zendaya sent her a massive bouquet to congratulate her on her victory. Later on during an interview Gauff, shared her thoughts on that moment saying, “The coolest thing that happened to me was Zendaya sent me flowers to my house. It was like a huge bouquet of flowers.” Then later on during an IG live Coco Gauff was even seen delving deeper into her thoughts on Zendaya’s character, Tashi, imagining that they’d have been “frenemies” if they were on tour together. 

Coco Gauff even commended Zendaya for her remarkable looks during the promotional tour. She said, “I loved all the Challengers fashion looks. I thought that was really cool to see tennis in that way, because I felt for a tennis player for us, a lot of us wouldn’t want to do that, but she (Zendaya) made it look like high fashion and chic.” Even the American actress has time and again expressed her admiration for the tennis star.

During an interview with the Tennis Channel said, “I love Coco. I haven’t met her yet, but I sure hope so. Brad is her coach so I’m like ‘I want to meet her.” After gaining a bit of insight into the lives of tennis players during the shooting of this film, Zendaya’s admiration for Gauff rose even higher. She said, “I relate to the idea of pressure and having all eyes on you but then in many ways, I can’t imagine the shoes she has to walk in as a tennis player, as a professional athlete.“

This film received a massive response from the crowd. Per Box Office Mojo, Challengers grossed $50.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $45.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $96 million. What are your thoughts on this popular film, though?