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Zendaya recently disclosed her love for reigning US Open women's singles champion Coco Gauff at the premiere of her upcoming film Challengers in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 16.
Zendaya was accompanied by her co-stars Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor for the evening. The film is based on the journey of former tennis player Tashi Donaldson, portrayed by Zendaya. Faist plays the role of Tashi's husband Mike and O'Connor has portrayed her ex-lover named Patrick Zweig.
Challengers will be released on the big screen on Friday, April 26, and Zendaya is currently occupied in promoting it. She recently graced the film's screening at Westwood Village Theater in Los Angeles. She held a brief conversation with a representative of Tennis Channel.
During the interaction, Zendaya expressed her wish to meet her compatriot and women's singles World No. 3 Coco Gauff in person. The actor has notably received tennis training from Brad Gilbert, who's currently Gauff's head coach.
"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,'" Zendaya said.
After the screening, Zendaya extended her gratitude to all the attendees for taking the time out, which she feared wouldn't happen.
"I feel, I think I speak on behalf of all of us that we’re incredibly grateful that people are actually here. I was thinking like nobody’s gonna be at this screening so I’m so surprised that people are actually here," she said.
She then hilariously requested the audience to not be highly critical of the characters in the movie, saying:
"There's so much love and so much gratitude so thank you so much for being here tonight. We sure hope you enjoyed and just have fun, dance if you want to and don’t judge the characters too hard."
Zendaya sent Coco Gauff a bouquet after the latter's US Open 2023 triumph
Zendaya has always adored Coco Gauff and even sent her flowers after the latter clinched her maiden Grand Slam trophy by winning the US Open 2023.
Gauff confirmed this in an interview and revealed Zendaya sent her a bouquet that she stated must have been around 50lbs in weight.
"The coolest thing that happened to me was Zendaya sent me flowers to my house. It was like a huge bouquet of flowers. My brother & I struggled to lift it up. I think it weighed at least 50 pounds. It was so heavy," the American said.
While Zendaya remains busy in her promotional duties, Coco Gauff will compete at the Stuttgart Open 2024. She's set to take on Sachia Vickery in her opener on Wednesday, April 17.
