The Challengers Movie Ending, Explained

Months of tantalizing promos finally built up to Challengers’ opening day. The comedy-drama starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist made its theatrical debut on April 26, at last revealing how Tashi, Patrick, and Art’s tennis-infused love triangle is resolved. Sort of. Moviegoers turned to social media to discuss the film afterward, as Challengers’ ending proved to be ambiguous and even divisive.

How Does Challengers End?

Major spoilers for Challengers ahead. Challengers starts and ends with Art (Faist) and Patrick (O’Connor) competing against each other in the final match of a Challenger tennis tournament in New Rochelle, New York. They battle it out under the watchful eye of Tashi (Zendaya), who happens to be their mutual love interest, in addition to Art’s winning-obsessed wife and coach. Through jumps between the past and present, we slowly learn about how their lives — and hearts and hormones — have been intertwined since they were teens.

As the film nears its end, we see Tashi spiral over Art’s plans to retire. She begs Patrick to throw the match so that Art will rediscover his passion for tennis, and then she sleeps with him. Still, Tashi doesn’t know if he’ll follow through with their agreement, and tension builds as Art edges toward victory on the day of the final.

Then, when it’s match point, Patrick uses a sign he and Art agreed upon as teenagers to convey that he hooked up with Tashi. Art ends up dropping the game after refusing to return Patrick’s serve, and they have to play an intense tiebreaker to determine the winner.

As the tiebreaker gets underway, the two men come out swinging, literally and figuratively. They play with a renewed intensity that culminates in a barrage of volleys at close range. Then, as Art goes up to smash an overhead shot, he improbably ends up leaping over the net and into Patrick’s arms, leaving the two in an embrace on court. From the stands, Tashi shouts out, “Come on!” like she did in her glory days as a player.

Who Won The Match?

The film leaves us there, still several points away from the end of the match. Tennis tiebreaks go until one player has reached seven points, with a two-point margin, so viewers never see whether Art or Patrick comes out on top. Even the climactic point’s outcome is unclear because of tennis’ complex rules and how the scene was shot. (I personally think Art lost the point after touching the net, but it depends on whether or not the ball bounced for a second time on Patrick’s side before he made contact. Then there’s the matter of jumping on his opponent, which seems to me like a hindrance, regardless of how enthusiastically he was received.)

But the ultimate winner doesn’t really matter. The film was meant to end with Art, Patrick, and Tashi all enjoying tennis and each other again. “I needed to get this very, very visually amped up and really immersed for the audience to understand how much it meant for them not to win over the other, but to be back together, all of them,” director Luca Guadagnino told Entertainment Weekly.

How Did Viewers React To The Ending?

Because of the ambiguity, not everyone knew what to make of the ending. Some moviegoers expressed confusion on X, asking what it meant. Others described having “so many questions” or used sad emojis because it didn’t make sense to them.

Meanwhile, another subset of viewers flat-out disliked the final scene. “The ending of #Challengers is…something,” one person tweeted. Another moviegoer said it got them “so angry,” and still others made sure to note that they liked the movie despite the ending.

On the other end of the spectrum were fans who thought it was “delectable” and even “ridiculous but also perfect.” “So obsessed with the challengers ending,” one fan wrote. Some liked it so much that they called for sequels.

For screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, everything we need is right there. “Those people, they exist the moment we meet them, and they stop existing the moment we leave,” he told Today.