“Zendaya doesn’t look like a player”: Yulia Putintseva reviews “Challengers” trailer

ROME, Italy—Challengers? Break Point? Yulia Putintseva prefers portrayals of tennis where she gets to be the star.

“Without me, I never watch it,” she joked of Daria Kasatkina’s What The Vlog? YouTube series, on which she has made multiple guest appearances.

“As soon as she invited me I was happy to do it, but she’s trying to avoid me now because I steal all the attention!” she added with a laugh. “People want me! I’m sorry, Dash!”

The Kazakh’s dry sense of humor has been one of the revelations for many fans tuning into a channel that is closing in on 50,000 subscribers. Her cameo on the BNP Paribas Open recap, which Kasatkina produces with girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako, has over 100,000 views.

“It’s great for the fans,” Putintseva explained after defeating Martina Trevisan in straight sets at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. “She’s showing what is going on around so people know. People often see one side of the player, how we’re traveling and making money, but they don’t see how much we suffer, miss our family, what it’s like to be on tour when you’re losing and have those down moments.

“As a player, you don’t even have a chance to see those cool things when you travel because you’re spending most of the day on the practice court, working on your shots. You never have time to enjoy the real Rome, for example, you maybe have one day, and if you’re playing every day, you don’t even have that. It’s a different side of you that the people don’t see or understand, but maybe with her vlog, she can make people see how it really is to be a tennis player.”

Putintseva found that gritty realism lacking from the Netflix series, which ended after two seasons in March.

“Break Point wasn’t good at all. They didn’t even invite me; how could it be good?” she laughed.

“I watched one episode with Kyrgios, and the rest was so bad, so dramatic.”

The world No. 41, who is in the midst of a resurgence with back-to-back WTA 1000 quarterfinal runs at the Miami Open and Mutua Madrid Open, is equally ambivalent towards Challengers, the hit romantic drama starring Zendaya.

“I just saw the trailer,” Putintseva said. “In my opinion, Zendaya as a tennis player, she’s so skinny and beautiful! She doesn’t look like a real tennis player. So, I would have picked a different actress for that. But I’ll have to see it first to give my 100% opinion. Let’s put it that way.”

The sometimes cynical three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist did name an unexpected tennis film among her favorites: Wimbledon, a 2004 romcom starring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany.

“Wimbledon was good!” she insists despite a middling Rotten Tomatoes rating. “I loved it!”

But Putintseva has reason to take a rosy view these days, having cut her ranking in half in the last three months to put herself in seeding range for the venue that served as the backdrop for her favorite film.

“I want to stay as long as possible here,” she said after booking a second-round meeting with American rival Sloane Stephens. “I love the history of Rome so much. I love Italy in general: there’s so much culture and so many great places to walk. All the streets have beautiful architecture all around. Growing up in Moscow, it brings great memories because they also have a great culture. I love the kind of city where you can walk, enjoy the arts and something besides tennis, all of the museums and things that are so cool.

“And the food is amazing,” adds Putintseva, who prefers a mix of stracciatella and pistachio gelato, “You cannot go wrong with anything here. Anything you order on the menu is great.”

Putintseva gets the chance to continue being the star of her own Roman Holiday against Stephens, the No. 31 seed, later this week.