"Mirka should have done this", "No way Federer has seen Challengers" - Fans amused by Swiss' hilarious welcome post for Zendaya as she joins On family

Hollywood actress Zendaya appeared in a commercial for the Roger Federer-backed brand, On. To promote the collaboration further, Federer posed like Zendaya's character 'Tashi Duncan' from her tennis-inspired movie 'Challengers'.

On Thursday, June 6, a partnership between On and Zendaya was announced with campaign videos and pictures directed by C Prinz. The campaign is titled 'Dream Together'.

The partnership comes just over a month after Zendaya's tennis-inspired movie 'Challengers' was released. The movie is based on 'Tashi Duncan' (played by Zendaya) whose tennis career is derailed due to an early injury. She goes on to become her tennis player husband, Art's (played by Mike Faist) coach and manager.

Swiss tennis legend Federer promoted On's partnership with Zendaya on X by posting a collage of himself as Zendaya's character and her original portryal of 'Tashi Duncan'.

Fans noted that Tashi Duncan's character is inspired by Mirka Federer, Roger's wife and manager, whose career was also derailed due to injury.

"The fact that tashi duncan is essentially inspired by mirka federer makes this funny for a very niche group of people," one fan wrote.

"Oh the way that Tashi backstory and her importance in his husband's career and being so worried in his matches was inspired by Mirka Federer. And Art not only with the Uniqlo and Wilson sponsors but part of his game style was inspired by Roger," another fan noted.

"Mirka should have done this tbh," a fan said.

Here are some more fan reactions to Federer's imitation of Tashi Duncan.

"There’s no way Federer has seen Challengers because he’s Art not Tashi," one fan wrote.

"CHALLENGERS YOU WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS," a fan wrote.

One fan asked, "The important question is DOES ROGER FEDERER KNOW THE CHARACTER OF TASHI DUNCAN WAS INSPIRED BY HIS WIFE MIRKA?????"

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Challengers writer Justin Kuritzkes took inspiration watching Roger Federer and Mirka during Wimbledon 2019

Mirka Federer in the stands during The Championships - Wimbledon 2019

Challenger's writer Justin Kuritzkes watched the 2018 US Open final between Naomi Osama and Serena Williams and that gave him the idea of a screenplay. However, after watching the Federers during the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, he got the inspiration for his characters. He told GQ,

"She looked so stressed out, every point... I was watching her and just thinking, 'Why are you so stressed out? You guys have all the money in the world. You've won 20 grand slams. What's so stressful to you? It has to be something else.'"

He found out that Mirka turned pro in 1998 and retired in 2002 due to a recurring foot injury. She essentially became Roger's manager since then. This inspired him to create the character of Tashi Duncan.