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Luca Guadagnino’s tennis-based love triangle Challengers, released on March 26, 2024, features Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, Mike Faist as Art Donaldson, and Josh O’Connor as Patrick Zweig. Although Tashi wants Patrick to let Art win this match so that she can fulfill her tennis dreams through him, Patrick does not make it look so obvious that he is losing voluntarily and consciously.
The film ends unexpectedly and we see Art trying to win the game in the last few minutes of the film, on his own, in the tie-breaker. He is infuriated when he learns that Tashi had slept with Patrick the previous night. He does not let Patrick win the game for him, rather he wants to win it himself, by channeling his inner rage.
The movie Challengers is inspired by a high-profile tennis match played between Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams at the US Open 2018. Apart from that, writer Justin Kurtizkes has also revealed that Andre Agassi’s autobiography Open, has also inspired the movie.
Who won at the end of Challengers
Since the movie ends abruptly, we do not know who wins the final game: was it Patrick, or was it Art? Only the director Luca Guadagino can tell us that.
We see that Art wins the first set and Patrick goes on to win the second. The winner of the third set is not revealed and the viewers are left hanging.
However, as we see Tashi screaming and cheering for the boys at the top of her lungs, one may assume that Art won the game, as she had always wanted and had planned. But in the end, no clear winner is shown and the ending is abrupt and open for viewers to interpret.
What did the ending of The Challengers mean
The film has a very ambiguous ending and we can understand till we reach the end minutes of the movie, that this is not just about tennis, although it starts and ends with it. Tennis is a metaphor for the love triangle between Patrick, Art, and Tashi.
Although the ending has no definite meaning, we can see the three major characters enjoying tennis like they used to, back in their college days, which according to the director is the most important thing ~ the love for the game and their getting back together. Luca Guadagnino even told Entertainment Weekly that:
“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.”
Are Art and Patrick in love at the end of Challengers?
Other than Tashi, Patrick and Art also have feelings for each other as we see in the film, which makes the love triangle even more perplexing. Apart from the three-way kissing scene, where Patrick and Art kiss each other intensely, we also see them sharing some private moments in the sauna and on the court.
It is left up to viewers to understand, whether Patrick falls in love with Art, at the end of the movie. Only the director can tell us what it is truly, as love is a complex emotion.
Do these two men, who are already in love with the same woman, love each other too? Or are there more undertones to this love triangle? This question remains a mystery for the viewers.
Fans worldwide can enjoy watching the film Challengers in their nearby theatres now.
