Movie star Zendaya turned heads with boyfriend Tom Holland recently, but that wasn’t the only major news for the actress. She’s also still making waves in the tennis world after the success of her movie “Challengers.”
According to Gold Derby, Zendaya is now one of the favorites to win “Best Film Comedy/Musical Actress” in the upcoming Golden Globe ceremony. This is major news, and incredibly well deserved for the positive impact she’s had on popularizing the sport worldwide.
Golden Globe odds update: 'Challengers' swings into 2 major categories https://t.co/nRhDnxdZxJ pic.twitter.com/voH9i3CJOA
— Gold Derby (@GoldDerby) October 24, 2024
The Academy isn’t the only one taking note of Zendaya’s impact either. She told Entertainment Weekly that tennis players themselves are acknowledging her.
“I’ve had a couple tennis players say, ‘Thanks for making tennis sexy,’ or ‘making tennis cool,'” Zendaya said.
“And I was like, I feel like tennis has always been cool and sexy, but I’ll take it. A lot of people have tried to get into tennis now, so I think that’s fun.”
The players are right too. Fans haven’t been shy about the role Zendaya and Challengers have had in getting them interested in the sport.
“I plan to get into Olympic tennis this summer as much as possible. Quite literally the Challengers effect tbh lol,” one fan said on Twitter after seeing the movie.
It’s clear Zendaya’s star power is leading to success for the sport, hopefully, she decides to bring light to more sports throughout her career.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.