Zendaya's raunchy Challengers movie sparks frenzied Gen Z trend

Zendaya's racy new tennis movie has created a craze around the game as Gen-Z are racing to buy sporty outfits and gear to spend their summer on the court.

The new movie, Challengers, stars the 27-year-old Euphoria star as Tashi, a former professional tennis player turned coach who is helping her husband have his own comeback in the sport. 

Having scored an impressive 88 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a decent 76 percent from fans, the movie has kicked off a massive tennis frenzy for inspired audience members. 

Young people are flocking to TikTok to show off their pleated skorts, sporty visors and shiny new racquets in videos accompanied by a dramatic song from the movie's original soundtrack.

Even tennis pros are hopping on the trend and uploading cinematic videos of themselves taking to the courts in their trendiest sporty ensembles. 

Madison Appel, a division one pro tennis player who also coaches, posted a video to her nearly 100k followers of herself dressed in an extremely fashionable pastel flowery matching tennis set as she shows off her stellar skills

Gen Z are flocking to TikTok to show off their pleated skorts, sporty visors and shiny new racquets in videos accompanied by a dramatic song from the movie's original soundtrack

Zendaya 's racy new tennis movie has created a craze around the game as Gen-Z are racing to buy sporty outfits and gear to spend their summer on the court

Madison Appel, a division one pro tennis player who also coaches, posted a video to her nearly 100,000 followers of herself dressed in an extremely fashionable pastel flowery matching tennis set as she shows off her stellar skills. 

'They were literally hitting every ball so hard in the movie,' she captioned her TikTok. 

Even Japanese world champion Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam singles champion, uploaded a hilarious edit of herself humbly showing off her talent in a casual sweatsuit, captioned 'No one: Me after watching Challengers.'

Sebastian Genta on TikTok uploaded a video compilation on TikTok of him getting dressed in his tennis gear for practice, captioned 'I will be picking up tennis again.' 

The anticipation surrounding the raunchy new drama sparked a huge surge in interest in tennis-inspired outfits, according to Hello Magazine.

There was a whopping 75 percent increase in searches for 'tennis outfit' over the past three months on Pinterest.

Specific searches like 'black tennis skirt outfits' have doubled while searches for V-neck sweaters and tennis skirt outfits have increased by 90 and 50 percent, respectively. 

Depop, a second-hand fashion retail app, has reported that searches for tennis skirts and polo shirts are up a sharp 52 percent and 53 percent respectively, according to RollingOut. 

Fashions labels are figuring out ways to profit from the new athletic trend - and are enlisting tennis stars to help them do so.

Even tennis pros are hopping on the trend and uploading cinematic videos of themselves taking to the courts in their trendiest sporty ensembles (Pictured: pro tennis player Naomi Osaka) 

Japanese world champion Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam singles champion, uploaded a hilarious edit of herself humbly showing off her talent in a casual sweatsuit

Sebastian Genta on TikTok uploaded a video compilation on TikTok of him getting dressed in his tennis gear for practice

Tennis pro Madison Appel is seen here in her very trendy tennis outfit as she enjoys practice in the sunshine 

Tennis star Emma Raducanu is a Dior ambassador and Jannik Sinner who is the highest-ranked Italian player in history, works with Gucci. Carlos Alcaraz, who is the 2023 Wimbledon men's champion, features in adverts for Louis Vuitton.

Designers brands like Miu Miu and Celine are exploring the new frenzy around tennis style, but other brands are proving that racquet sports are not exclusive to those who are rich enough to play at their country clubs. 

American retail giant Target even released its own line of preppy tennis clothes in a collaboration with the popular tennis clothing brand Prince. 

Target is marketing the new line towards pickleball players, including quirky racquets and colorful sets of balls - but the clothes fit the fashion of Zendaya's new movie, with pleated skirts, collared tennis dresses and sporty cardigans. 

TikToker @xiaolongbby posted a video to her 261,000 followers about her Google search history after seeing Challengers. 

She jokingly shared searches like 'tennis coaches in my area', 'tennis courts by me', 'tennis for beginners', 'how quickly can you enter tennis competition', 'how long does it take to become good at tennis' and 'where to bisexual men hang out.' 

The last search alludes to a particularly raunchy scene in the movie, which centers around Zendaya's love triangle with two men, in which the trio make out with each other in a steamy situation hat almost leads to a threesome. 

Audiences went wild over the racy scene. 'Challengers was good, I want to join a threesome and play tennis now,' a user on X wrote. 

Not only are audience members inspired fashion and sexuality in Challengers, people actually want to start their own tennis journeys

Some TikTok users joked that Zendaya's athletic body in the tennis movie made them inspired to pick the sport up 

Searches for adult tennis lessons have skyrocketed 245 percent worldwide, according to an analysis of Google search data

Having scored an impressive 88 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a decent 76 percent from fans, the movie has kicked off a massive tennis frenzy for inspired audience members

Not only are audience members inspired fashion and sexuality in Challengers, people actually want to start their own tennis journeys. 

Searches for adult tennis lessons have skyrocketed 245 percent worldwide, according to an analysis of Google search data. 

'Movies centered around tennis don't typically generate significant box office revenue, but this movie has smashed it,' said a spokesperson for Venture Smarter. 

'And not only has it done well financially, but it has also inspired audiences to pick up a racquet and play tennis, which is great for our mental and physical wellbeing.'

As of May 6, 2024, Challengers has grossed $30.3million in the United States box office and $23million in other territories.