In an alternate reality, Maude Apatow might be practicing her serve instead of learning lines for the third season of Euphoria. “My dad was a ball boy growing up. He was really into tennis,” she said of her father, director Judd Apatow. “I think he wanted my sister and I to play tennis when we were younger. It never really stuck.”
Although Judd didn’t exactly get his wish, a love of tennis certainly transferred to his eldest daughter. In an exclusive conversation with Vanity Fair, Apatow shared her appreciation for the sport in the Moët & Chandon box at Arthur Ashe Stadium on the first day of the US Open. “I haven’t been to the Open before,” she shared, excitedly. Her first trip to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center saw 19-year-old rising star Learner Tien face off against one of the all-time greats, 38-year-old Novak Djokovic, who currently holds the all-time Grand Slam record with 24 wins. “Djokovic is playing, so that’s pretty cool,” she said.
Apatow has had a pretty cool year herself, with a memorable cameo as the well-meaning gentrifier Bethany in the hit comedy One of Them Days, starring Grammy-winner SZA and Keke Palmer. “I only worked a couple of days, but it was so fun,” Apatow said. “Keke is a comic genius. She can improvise better than anyone I have ever seen in my entire life.”
While Lerner and Djokovic rallied back and forth, Apatow was joined by a slew of up-and-coming stars. Ben Ahlers, star of The Gilded Age who is sometimes affectionately known as “Clock Twink,” sat arm in arm with his girlfriend, Tony nominee and Grotesquerie star Michaela Diamond. Together, they chatted with Duster actor Rachel Hilson about the match and their upcoming projects. Next to them, influencer Tinx was caught on camera mouthing “That sucks” after Djokovic lost a nail-biter of a point against his 19-year old opponent—which she immediately posted to her Instagram story. Wunderkind chef and tennis aficionado Flynn McGarry was locked into the match despite the fact that his second restaurant, Cove, is set to open this week in the West Village.
Their box was conspicuously devoid of Honey Deuces—the Open’s signature pink vodka cocktail with honeydew melons shaped like tennis balls. Apatow and her compatriots chose to sip on complimentary Moët Champagne instead. “[I] love to celebrate with Champagne,” Apatow said. “It’s really special to break out Champagne at the end of something.”
Apatow enjoyed her bubbly as a well-deserved night out amidst filming the highly anticipated and highly under wraps third season of HBO’s Euphoria from director Sam Levinson. “We’ve been shooting since the end of January, and we’re getting close to finishing,” Apatow says. “It’s been really nice to see everyone together. It’s been years since we shot the last season.” Those years that have passed since the second season of Euphoria, which aired in 2022, are reflected in the script, which makes a bold leap into the future.
“It’s five years in the future. We’re all navigating our adult lives,” Apatow says of season three. While she’s not at liberty to release details as to what is in store for her character, aspiring playwright Lexi Howard, Apatow can say that she thinks Levinson made “the right call” by allowing the characters to age out of high school. “I like that it’s growing up with us,” she says. “From what I’ve seen and read so far, I think people will really like it.”
