Warning: This post contains spoilers for Challengers
Challengers has quite the ending, with Art and Patrick going toe-to-toe in an intense tennis match while Tashi watches from the sidelines. Everything is riding on the former friends’ match, which will determine several elements of their lives simultaneously. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Challengers’ cast includes Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor, who bring their characters’ scintillating drama to the forefront. Challengers’ reviews have been mostly positive, and the film’s ending lends itself to the praise it received. The finale goes all-in after it’s revealed Tashi asked Patrick to lose the challengers match on purpose.
Patrick was initially hesitant to do it, but agrees after he and Tashi sleep together. Earlier, Patrick had asked Tashi to leave Art to be his tennis coach instead, building on the rift that had been shifting back and forth for years. Tashi refuses, but later tells Art that she will leave him if he doesn’t win the match against Patrick. Nearing the match’s end, Patrick signals to Art that he and Tashi slept together, fueling the fire between them. After an intense game, Art hits the winning tennis shot and, so close to Patrick near the net, hugs him.
Art and Patrick were deeply invested in the final tennis match — each for their own reasons. Patrick wanted to have Tashi on his side, since he’d asked her to be his tennis coach, and she’d asked him to lose on purpose, and Art wanted to gain back his confidence, winning the match to please Tashi as he headed into the US Open before formally retiring. But Art and Patrick had not been close for years after they stopped speaking to each other following Tashi’s tennis injury.
But the fact that Patrick revealed a secret to Art, as though they were old friends again, and they knew they were both drawn into Tashi’s gravitational pull, brought out their old feelings of camaraderie. Their real life-inspired Challengers match likely reminded them of when they used to play tennis together before meeting Tashi, but Patrick’s honesty regarding his relationship with Tashi allowed Art to pull back and realize what he’d lost when it came to his relationship with Patrick. Art probably realized he could beat Patrick and reconcile with him at the same time.
Now that he had confirmation regarding what was going on between Patrick and Tashi, Art’s passion for winning a tennis match — rather than his previous exhaustion with the sport — reignited. It was like he and Patrick were back to being teenagers vying for Tashi’s attention while also competing against each other. And, after so many years of distance and turmoil between them, it’s likely Art and Patrick wanted to move past the grudge standing between them. The combination of tennis, Tashi’s presence, and the intensity of the match’s stakes pushed all that to the forefront, washing the anger away.
Art is no victim in the relationship playing out between himself, Tashi and Patrick. After all, Art questioning the depth of Patrick and Tashi’s relationship in college didn’t help matters, and he did it for selfish reasons. But after feeling like strings were being pulled, Patrick decided to tell Art — in the same way he revealed it in college — that he and Tashi slept together. To be sure, Patrick wasn’t doing it because he felt bad about what happened, or that he was genuinely looking out for Art (he would’ve told him about their tryst in Atlanta, too, otherwise).
Rather, Patrick believed the information would anger Art and push him over the edge. It’s possible Patrick was trying to win the game, after all, to convince Tashi that she should coach him instead of her husband. Either way, Art learning that Tashi had cheated on him with his ex-friend changes things. With Tashi having told Art she’d leave him if he didn’t win, it could be that Art will be the one to walk away from their relationship now that he knows the truth. It’s also possible Art will stay regardless, especially since he ultimately wins the match.
Tashi has spent the entirety of her relationship with Art being his tennis coach, boosting his career and confidence, giving him what she thought he needed to stay on top and relevant. It’s clear by Challenger’s big ad that the pair are a tennis power couple. But Tashi didn’t only want Art to win so that he could regain his confidence headed into the US Open; she wanted Art to win because it would be an embarrassment to her if he didn’t.
Tashi was a tennis prodigy, and she was, in some ways, living vicariously through Art’s tennis career. Tashi was deeply devoted to tennis — more than anything else in her life. If Art wasn’t the best at tennis, that affected Tashi’s status and ranking as well. She pushed him so they could both look good. For Tashi, Art not being up to par at tennis made her feel less affectionate towards him.
Tennis was her passion, and Tashi treated it as more of a partner than she treated Art, whose importance in her life was largely dependent on his tennis career. It’s why Tashi asked Patrick to lose on purpose; she wanted to ensure Art had a chance of winning the US Open, and maybe even continuing his tennis career instead of retiring. That’s how important the sport was to her. If Art no longer wanted tennis, then Tashi no longer wanted him.
With Art and Patrick seemingly on the road to reconciliation after hugging it out at the end of their match, Challengers’ ending paves the way for a change in the trio’s dynamic and future. While Art and Patrick could ice out Tashi after the match, which would come primarily from Art because of Tashi’s infidelity, it’s unlikely they will. They need her more than she needs them — at least when it comes to tennis.
Rather, it’s possible Art and Patrick will return to being friends, and Art can finally retire from tennis knowing Tashi can coach Patrick instead. The trio may finally let go of the past and move forward without playing physical and mind games with each other. Tashi could still leave Art to work with Patrick, but it might be a clean break for her and Art considering she was honest with him about her waning interest. Art could retire in peace without having to worry about tennis anymore. Conversely, it’s possible the match simply reignited his competitive streak.
Though there are a myriad of paths the characters could take after the film ends, Challengers doesn’t have a post-credits scene that teases what comes next. For a film like this one, not having a post-credits scene makes sense. Plus, it leaves audiences to ponder what might become of the trio and whether their complicated, toxic entanglement might end, be strengthened, or simply morph into something else entirely.
Guadagnino’s film meditates on friendships and romantic relationships when mixed with the sports world. In Challengers, the characters take tennis very seriously, but by the end it’s clear to see that the competition and the games played off the court have irrevocably altered Tashi, Art, and Patrick’s dynamic — mostly for the worse.
Challengers also asks the audience to wonder about the strength of relationships in such an intense environment, as they’re so easily influenced and changed throughout the film. Challengers wades into class, competition, opportunity, and status, while the end suggests the intense passion for tennis outweighs them all and is worth risking relationships for.
