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Wimbledon fans were left very distracted watching Monday’s match between Taylor Fritz and Alex Zverev, and it’s clear to see why.
The match saw Fritz advance to the Grand Slam’s quarterfinals with a five set victory, with his girlfriend Morgan Riddle among fans in the crowd.
But viewers were instead focused on another onlooker, who channelled their inner Zendaya, it appeared.
Those watching from home were quick to notice that a few shots from Wimbledon reflected steamy blockbuster hit Challengers.
The Luca Guadagnino-directed film, which follows tennis protégé Tashi (played by Zendaya) in a love triangle that’s lasted over a decade, captured fans with its sexy moments and three-way chemistry.
It stars Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor as best friends and tennis partners Art Donaldson and Patrick Zweig, with Dune actress Zendaya playing an injured tennis star turned coach, caught between her tennis player ex-boyfriend (Patrick) and her tennis champion husband (Art).
While Challengers soared to the top of everyone’s watch lists earlier this summer, it has maintained its success all the way through Wimbledon, as fans clearly can’t forget about one moment.
So much so that they’re even seeing it replicated, taking to social media to share one clip that’s gone viral and mirrors a steamy Challengers scene.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9K5mlDvvON/?igsh=bXh6M21mc3Nhbzlj
In it, the tennis players are reflected in the sunglasses of an onlooker, whose face is zoomed in on by the camera – almost identical to the film’s theatrical poster starring Zendaya.
And as if that wasn’t enough, one of the players held his tennis ball in the centre of the racket, just like a key aspect of the movie.
For the uninitiated, that exact ball position in Challengers was used as a sign between Art and Patrick for the latter to tell the former, Tashi’s husband, that he had also slept with her – and not just once.
In a signal known only to them, Patrick placed the ball in his racket to tell Art that he had slept with Tashi years before their current match, and also at the end of the film, the night before their final match, in a shocking betrayal of friendship and marriage.
While the zooming in on fans (often wearing sunglasses) and tennis players holding their ball in the racket is probably nothing new, viewers have been quick to make the comparison and are convinced of the camera team’s intentions.
‘As if the Wimbledon cameraman just gave us a Challengers montage during a break in the Fritz-Zverev game,’ @hrhgeorgiana wrote on Instagram.
@niceditabosman replied joking that the cameraman would have been at the Challengers premiere taking notes, while @noudhout commented: ‘Needs more sweat dripping directly on the camera.’
‘Not Zverev putting his ball in the center of the racket too,’ @theevenstevens said.
@nospaceinmypassport added: ‘Haha no wayy😂 I didn’t notice this but it’s soo good.’
‘He knew what he was doing >:)),’ @that_little_juliette added.
‘Wimbledon has gone full Challengers with the slow motion and the dramatic shots lol – they just showed a cutscene zooming in on a serious looking woman in dark sunglasses a la Zendaya,’ @v1oletdelights meanwhile wrote on X.
While it’s unclear who wins the match at the end of Challengers, the real Wimbledon match saw Fritz seal his place in the quarter-finals with an epic 4-6 6-7 (4) 6-4 7-6 (3) 6-3 victory against Zverev in three hours and 29 minutes.
He lost out on Wednesday however to Lorenzo Musetti, who has now reached his first grand slam semi-final.
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The result will be a huge blow to American player Fritz, who was playing in his fourth slam quarter-final but for the first time did not have to face either Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal.
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