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Challengers Movie Ending Explained: How Did The Finale Match Pan Out?
Zendaya led Challengers movie is shining at the box office. But who ultimately won the final match? Explore the ending here.
Alert: This article contains spoilers for the Challengers movie
Zendaya-led Challengers movie is having a good time. This romantic sports film, directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes is taking an easy #1 with an estimated 15 million USD. If we see the amount of the Amazon MGM Studios release, this is quite a respectable collection. But seeing the hefty making budget of 50 million USD, it's a little concerning, given the fact that we are having The Fall Guy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt next week.
Zendaya stars in the film as Tashi Duncan, along with fellow athletes Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor). The movie explores an intense love triangle entangling a professional tennis player and former tennis rivals. According to the film’s official synopsis, Zendaya’s character Duncan is described as “a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court.” But what is intriguing is the ending of the R-rated film. Let's explore it.
Exploring Challengers movie ending
In the world of Challengers, everything revolves around the fiery rivalry between two former best friends, Art Donaldson and Patrick Zweig. Art, played by Mike Faist, is married to Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), a former tennis star who retired due to an injury. Tashi now coaches Art, but she has a complicated past with Patrick, played by Josh O'Connor, as he was her ex-boyfriend. The tension in the film grows as the two men compete in a high-stakes Challenger tournament, with much more on the line than just a trophy.
The storyline begins with Art and Patrick facing off in the final match of the New Rochelle Challenger tennis tournament in New York. Their coach, Tashi, is watching closely.
As the pressure mounts, Tashi reveals a shocking ultimatum: she will leave Art if he loses to Patrick. Desperate to rekindle Art's fading passion for the game, she secretly makes a deal with Patrick to throw the match. The stakes grow even higher when Tashi ends up sleeping with Patrick, hoping to secure his cooperation. However, the outcome remains uncertain.
In the film's climactic scenes, the final match between Art and Patrick turns intense. Patrick uses a secret sign from their teenage years to indicate to Art that he has been intimate with Tashi. This revelation causes Art to lose focus, resulting in a dramatic game point.
As the match extends into a tiebreaker, the players unleash their full intensity, with furious volleys and near-physical confrontations. At one point, Art leaps over the net and into Patrick's arms, suggesting that their rivalry might have taken an unexpected turn. From the stands, Tashi shouts encouragement, reminiscent of her prime as a tennis star.
The film concludes here, leaving the viewers hanging several points before the official end of the match. Tennis tiebreakers require a two-point advantage to win, and the scene doesn't reveal the final outcome.
The Movie is not just about Tennis
The ending of the film Challengers has sparked curiosity among viewers. Screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes revealed a fascinating tidbit: the now-iconic final scene was one of his first ideas for the movie.
"That was one of the first things I knew about the movie before I even started writing," he said.
Kuritzkes elaborated that the scene, which required precise calibration, closely matched his original vision. Although he didn't disclose too many details, he expressed satisfaction with how it turned out. "Yeah, I had that image in my head really early on, you know, we went through a process with the ending of calibrating it exactly right. Without saying too much. But no, it feels pretty close to what I originally imagined, which I'm really happy about and it's probably a bit surreal, as well."
Director Luca Guadagnino offered a deeper interpretation of the ending. He explained that the characters, Tashi, Patrick, and Art, are essentially reenacting a past moment of youthful connection. Their time together on the court, charged with competition but also a sense of camaraderie, reflects their yearning to recapture a bygone era of innocence and desire.
"They are acting out for 13 years the possibility of going back to that hotel room to find again that beautiful moment of burgeoning desires and innocence," he told Entertainment Weekly.
Guadagnino remained tight-lipped about the actual winner. The intensity of the final moments served to illustrate the importance of the characters coming back together rather than defeating one another. He commented, "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."
In the end, the final game serves as a symbolic reunion, a metaphorical last hurrah for the trio. This, according to Kuritzkes, was the true purpose of the Challengers ending: a celebration of reconnection over victory.
Challengers is running in theaters.
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