This Challengers Theory About Tashi’s Daughter Has Fans Shook

Challengers has more than one mystery. Zendaya’s newest film, a tennis drama co-starring Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor, debuted at number one at the box office, and all viewers can talk about is that ending, which leaves the movie’s central plotline unresolved. However, there’s now another question that many fans are asking. Spoilers for Challengers ahead.

At the beginning of the movie, Tashi (Zendaya) and Art Donaldson (Faist) have been married for eight years, and share one young daughter named Lily. But as seen later, Tashi was in a relationship with Art’s BFF-turned-foe Patrick Zweig (O’Connor) while she was in college, and they continued to have the occasional one-night stand after she married Art and became his coach.

This history of infidelity has left many viewers across social media wondering if Patrick is actually the father of Tashi’s daughter, rather than Art. One viewer on Reddit noted that Challengers took time to specifically point out that Tashi and Patrick hooked up in Atlanta in 2011, and guessed that her and Art’s daughter may have been around 7 years old in 2019, when the movie begins.

“If she did fall pregnant, she probably wouldn’t want Patrick to know given he is a mess,” the user added. However, Lily’s age is not confirmed in the movie, making it hard to confirm the timeline.

In the Reddit comments, one fan cited the moment where Tashi tells Patrick that “Lily likes hotels” as a possible nod to how she was conceived in that Atlanta hotel. On the contrary, another user noted that in one scene, when Tashi sneaks back into the hotel room, Art and Lily are sleeping in the same position, which the fan took as a subtle sign that she is Art’s daughter.

One fan on X (formerly Twitter) shared a photo of Faist and his onscreen daughter next to each other to make this case stronger, claiming that “she looks the exact opposite of Art.” Indeed, her darker hair matches Zendaya and O’Connor much more than Faist’s blonde hair. However, as some commenters said, the young actor has more of a resemblance to Zendaya than anyone else.

Perhaps this was intentional in order to keep her father’s identity a mystery. It wouldn’t be surprising if director Luca Guadagnino wanted viewers to question who fathered Lily and left the mystery unresolved, much like how he ended the film without revealing who won the match.