Challengers Ending Explained: Match Maker

This article contains major spoilers for "Challengers."

Given our Puritanical origins, Americans tend to have a strange relationship with the concept of kink. It's only within the last half-century or so that popular culture has allowed for the exploration and broadcast of what used to be taboo topics: Things as basic and human as the general act of sex, the proliferation of violence, and so on. Prior to that watershed time in American history, so much of life was hidden behind closed doors, causing the general public persona of the average citizen to be repressed or sublimated.

While America is certainly not alone when it comes to rabidly enjoying sports — whether participating directly or merely observing them being played — it feels like our culture uses the pastimes as one of several outlets with which to get in touch with our baser, more primal selves. If football is a stand-in for the gladiator games of ancient Rome, and stock car racing is a way of spitting in the face of death, then tennis, a more "civilized" sport by comparison, celebrates the physical. Sure, there may be practical reasons for tennis players to wear very little clothing, but of course such costuming best allows for the players' idealized physical forms to be on display at all times.

"Challengers," the latest film from Italian provocateur Luca Guadagnino, is an erotic thriller where the majority of sex between its three protagonists is sublimated into both the mind games they play with each other as well as the literal tennis matches between them. Sex, at least for these characters, is less about pleasure and more about power; the point isn't procreation, love, addiction, or hedonism, but competition. Speaking of sublimation, the entire movie is structured like one extended tennis match, but it can also be seen as a years-long role-play session between the threesome at its core. After all, is there much of a fundamental difference between a match's exciting conclusion and a sexual climax? If there is a line separating them, then "Challengers" erases it.

In "Challengers," the game is all-encompassing, and it's made evident even before the movie properly begins. Setting up not just the theme but the structure of the film to follow, we see Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) locked in heated, sweaty combat on the tennis court with Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor), as they volley the tennis ball back and forth before the film's production logos appear. Subsequent to that, it's revealed that this particular match will be the movie's wraparound, its core timeline. It's August 2019, and Donaldson and Zweig are competing at a challenger match sponsored by Phil's Tire Town in New Rochelle, New York while a mysterious woman watches the match intensely from the packed bleachers.

Flashing back to two weeks earlier, Guadagnino and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes properly introduce Donaldson and that woman watching the match, which turns out to be his wife, Tashi (Zendaya). The two are a power couple in the tennis world, with Donaldson a major star on the court and Tashi a power player behind the scenes, acting as her husband's coach, agent, and representative in just about every aspect. That includes publicity, as shown when Tashi makes some edits to a proposed car ad featuring the two of them and makes sure that she isn't eclipsed in the ad by her husband.

The Donaldsons seem incredibly comfortable. Their daughter, Lily (A.J. Lister), loves living in hotels a little too much, and Tashi's mother (Nada Despotovich) doesn't mind essentially being a full-time babysitter for Lily. They may not be all that happy, however, especially as Tashi nurses what seems to be an old injury while Art is too distracted by the intimidating hero worship his reputation alone buys him. His shaken self-confidence causes him to lose an important match, which means trouble for his potential to make it to the U.S. Open. As a way of getting her husband's mojo back, Tashi books him on the challenger circuit in New Rochelle, assuring Art that slumming it slightly there will allow for a series of easy, ego-boosting wins.

Meanwhile, Zweig couldn't be in a more different place than his wealthy and famous soon-to-be-opponent. At first, he's attempting to fall on the mercies of a hotel clerk to have a place to sleep for the night before the tournament begins. Although his charm doesn't take him as far as he hopes (his initial confidence indicating that it used to take him further in the past), a gay male couple can't help but openly comment on the young man's figure. In other words, Zweig may not have his mojo working at full force right now, but he once had it, and he may get it back.

Forced to drive to the venue and sleep in his car in the parking lot, Zweig is saved from trouble (if not from embarrassment) by playing it off like he'd arrived to check in early when an official discovers him the next morning. In the registration office, he can't help but look hungrily at the check-in clerk's breakfast sandwich, which is very clearly labeled as a sandwich from Dunkin'. It's one of many instances in the film where Guadagnino satirizes the way corporate sponsorship is all over the court and the athletes themselves, drawing a distinction between the players' public and private personas.

Zweig's private life is about to catch up with him in a big way: The clerk mentions that Donaldson is the star player of this year's tournament, news which seems to light a fire in Patrick's eyes. Right away, his priorities are tested, as the clerk further explains that the hard-up-for-cash Zweig could choose to throw the tournament early in order to get paid sooner, or he could play to win — including potentially facing Donaldson — but that would mean a longer wait for money. As Zweig hungrily devours the sandwich, it seems he barely needs to think over what his decision will be.

Flashback to thirteen years ago, when Art and Patrick weren't bitter rivals and were the best of friends instead. Their connection during their late teens is strong enough that Art asks Patrick to throw a game they'll play the following day just for the sake of Art's grandma wishing to see him win, and Patrick happily agrees. As a doubles team on the court, the boys even have a spiffy, colorful nickname: "Fire and Ice."

But both boys begin to run hot when they first lay eyes on Tashi Duncan. Already a star at the age of 18, Tashi's prowess on the court has given her a reputation as the next big thing in tennis, and both Art and Patrick can't help but agree as they watch her play. During this particular match, Tashi closes her victory with what seems like a primal scream; a moment more specific than just an athlete letting off steam.

Patrick convinces a reluctant Art to attend a swanky afterparty at Tashi's beachside home, whereupon the duo work up the courage to approach her. After hanging around while the party dwindles to a close, they get Tashi's attention again, the three sharing a more private conversation wherein Art asks Tashi about that scream on the court. Tashi cryptically shrugs it off as something between herself and her opponent, explaining how tennis is less of a mere game and more of a relationship between players. Although Patrick asks for Tashi's number, she declines, but Patrick persists, inviting her back to the boys' hotel room, an invitation which she also appears to turn down.

Although Art and Patrick don't actually believe Tashi will show up, the girl proves the boys wrong by doing just that, joining them in their hotel room. As the three young people flirt, Tashi gets Art and Patrick to reveal a lot about themselves: Not only did they meet while attending a tennis academy together, but they also learned to masturbate together, with Patrick showing Art how it's done.

Sensing the sexual tension in the room reaching a fever pitch, Tashi invites the boys to join her on the bed at the same time. Initially kissing each of them one by one, she next encourages them to kiss her at the same time, before removing herself and letting things take their course as Art and Patrick make out fervently. Satisfied with what she's accomplished and what she's started, she decides to leave, but not before putting down the boys' next challenge: She will give her number to whoever wins their match tomorrow. Although Art reminds Patrick that he said he'd throw the match for Art's grandma, Patrick declares that earlier promise null and void.

Some time later, it's revealed that Patrick won that fateful match, and has been dating Tashi ever since. Although the boys are still friends, there's a new strain on their relationship — not just from the Tashi situation, but from life pulling them in different directions. Art (along with Tashi) has enrolled in Stanford, while Patrick is making a go of it as a professional athlete, choosing to skip any college education.

For now, Art is satisfied by living vicariously through Patrick's relationship, begging his friend for details in a way that seems half jealous, half curious. Patrick, feigning chivalry, insists that he's not going to flat out tell Art whether he's slept with Tashi yet or not. However, he describes a particular tic that Art has when serving on the court, wherein he places the ball in the middle of the racket. Art proposes that, if Patrick has slept with Tashi, he use Art's tic while serving, which Patrick subsequently does with a knowing smirk.

Back in 2019, Zweig finds himself winning matches (thereby coming closer to facing Donaldson) but still in need of cash and a place to crash. His solution is to swipe right like a maniac on Tinder, eventually taking a woman on a date at a swanky hotel. It just so happens that this hotel is the one Art and Tashi are staying at, and he encounters Tashi in the lobby, who tells him to stay away from her.

Just as Patrick is setting himself up to play with Tashi in 2019, years earlier it's Art who's attempting the same with Tashi while they're both at Stanford. Taking Tashi to lunch one afternoon, Art confesses that Patrick doesn't seem to really love her. Tashi sees through the ruse, declaring herself as not needing love and observing that Art may be "the worst friend in the world." Patrick doesn't seem to think so, however; when he comes to visit Tashi at school, he observes the meek Art's jealousy and attempts at manipulation and actually seems thrilled by them.

Patrick is less enthused by Tashi's attempts at manipulating him, though. During a steamy near-sexual encounter in her dorm room, Patrick calls out Tashi's offer to coach him as her bid to make him her submissive. Nearly breaking up with him then and there, it's when Tashi shatters her knee during a match (which Patrick is pointedly not present for) that she decides to end things with Zweig, especially upon learning that she can no longer play professionally again.

Three years later, a chance encounter leads Art to take Tashi on a date to Applebees, whereupon he confesses his long-standing crush on her and indicates that he's very open to taking her advice on and off the court. Finally, Tashi has her pet man, her surrogate player — after all, as she essentially said earlier, what's love got to do with it?

Before the heated, contentious match between Art and Patrick takes place (which, of course, we're still seeing interspersed throughout the film), it turns out that Zweig had a few tricks up his sleeve in terms of playing with the minds of his ex-lover and ex-friend. In the case of the former, Zweig approaches Tashi in her hotel again, this time reminding her of the one-night affair they shared a few years prior when both of them were in Atlanta and seeing if she might be interested in another go-round. Tashi is annoyed at this proposal, but she's furious when Patrick adds to it, proposing to her that she should start coaching him in the way she initially wanted to way back during their college days. Zweig's proposal comes with his observation that Art is reaching the end of his career, and when he stops, Tashi will no longer have a pet player to do her bidding. Tashi leaves, but not before Patrick gives her his number, which she verbally says she won't use even as she pockets the piece of paper.

In the case of Donaldson, Patrick comes upon Art while he's having a sauna in the venue's facilities. During their conversation, Patrick literally and figuratively indulges in some dick swinging, intimidating (or is it seducing?) Art with his body while passive aggressively complimenting his career and current status in the tennis world. Donaldson sees through Zweig's coy smirk, and the two start verbally sparring. In this way, as with so many moments between the film's core threesome, their entire existence is a tennis match, an idea supported by the propulsive score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross as well as by Kuritzkes, Guadagnino, and editor Marco Costa's structuring of the film, bouncing back and forth in time, demonstrating how these three have been alternatively competing, coaching, or instigating one another since they all met.

One of the biggest unanswered questions within "Challengers" is how much, if at all, the core threesome truly care for one another (or, for that matter, how offended or hurt they might be at one another given the moment). Of the three of them, Art appears to be the most empathetic and sensitive; on the night before the fateful match in New Rochelle, he tells his wife that he wishes to retire this year, whether he makes it to the Open or not. Tashi, unfazed and remembering Patrick's words about Art wanting to quit, tells her husband that she'll leave him if he retires. Despite whatever feelings of desire or romance may be between them, despite the child they've made together, it appears that the only thing keeping them a couple is tennis itself.

To that end, and for her own reasons — wanting to keep their relationship alive, wanting to apologize for her casual cruelty, wanting something carnal, or some combination of all of the above — Tashi calls Patrick, sneaking out of her hotel room and having him meet her outside her hotel posing as an Uber driver. As they drive around New Rochelle during a storm that involves a near-apocalyptic amount of wind, Tashi asks Patrick to throw the match tomorrow. Patrick will only agree to the deal if Tashi sleeps with him right now, a proposition that Tashi initially refuses, but eventually gives into. As Tashi and Patrick spend some post-coital time in Patrick's car, it appears that the average person's notions of love and morality don't apply to these people. Betrayal, romantic (or sexual) musical chairs, fights; they don't crush these three, they merely spur them on.

In the final moments of the challenger match between Art and Patrick, the two have reached a match point, and it seems that Donaldson is doomed to lose, with Patrick pointedly refusing to throw the game like he'd agreed. However, seeing Tashi in the stands looking disappointed and concerned while Art seems to be just going through the motions of being a professional tennis star, Patrick decides to give his old friend the signal he once used to indicate that he slept with Tashi the night before, putting the ball in the middle of his racket. Art picks up on the signal right away, and from that moment, their match becomes electric.

Just as we the audience have been seeing things from the ball's perspective metaphorically for the entire movie, bouncing between the characters within time, Guadagnino makes us view the match literally from the ball's point-of-view for some of these closing moments. Although Patrick is energized by this new level the match has reached, it's Art who's virtually transformed, gaining his mojo back and almost superhumanly flying through the air. He and his old friend, almost-lover are essentially fornicating through the language of tennis now, and when Art spikes the ball, winning the match, he meets Patrick a split-second after in an orgasmic combination of a catch and a hug.

As her boys reach their climax, Tashi is ecstatic, applauding and encouragingly shouting "Come on!" in a fashion similar to her primal scream on the court all those years ago. She's just seen the most perfect game of tennis ever played in her life, making all those years of strife and manipulation utterly worth it. Not to feel bad for anyone involved, however; if the old adage about competition — it's not who wins or loses, but how you play the game — is true, then all three of these people come away winners. Challenge accepted, challenge met, challenge accomplished.