Challengers has now landed on Prime Video worldwide, leaving a whole new audience to speculate over its abrupt ending.
Whether you're Team Art or Team Patrick (or just Team Tashi and want the insanely popular 'I Told Ya' T-shirt), the movie would have left you on the edge of your seat as it served up a dramatic final game between Art and Patrick.
It's not just about the tennis; if anything, the tennis is the least important thing as ugly truths are laid bare on the court. After more than two hours of the trio lusting after each other, the ending might give you a sense where they'll all go next.
So let's delve into the ending of Challengers to answer any lingering questions you may have, with help from the cast and creators.
Challengers ending explained
After learning of their history together (Tashi kissed Patrick and Art, then dated Patrick, then married Art, then cheated on Art with Patrick... twice), we arrive at the climax of the story with the seven-point tie-break in the New Rochelle Challengers tournament's final match.
The match has been quite tense so far, with Art desperate to regain his lost confidence for one last professional season and Patrick invigorated by this reunion with his former best friend as he's eager to get his hands on this competition's meagre cash prize.
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When the match is nearing the end and Art is heading for the win, Patrick makes a decision.
The night before, he met with Tashi, who asked him to lose in order to give her husband a much-needed boost of confidence. Also because she promised Art to dump him if he loses.
Back to the match, Patrick seems to be conflicted about holding on to his promise to Tashi. He finally decides to do something quite different, causing a major disruption in the dynamic of the game.
Using an old bro code from their teenage years (placing the ball in the neck of the racket, mimicking Art's style of serving), Patrick reveals to Art he has had sex with Tashi. A following nod confirms the information, and Art loses it. He is enraged for a few seconds, but then something shifts.
That's when they get into the tie-break, although we only see one point.
Patrick and Art smile at each other from opposing sides of the net, while Tashi sends confusing glances to them. They start playing with all the fire they've been missing for so long, offering a jaw-dropping point that ends with Art literally flying over the net. Patrick catches him and both men hug affectionately.
From the audience, Tashi stands up and screams "Come on!", completely exhilarated, a smile on her face. It's the same cathartic scream we saw of her at the beginning of the movie, when she scored a winning point against an opponent.
It doesn't seem to be a frustrated scream, but rather a happy one – finally her "white boys" are showing some of the passion she had to give up after her career-ending injury.
That's where Challengers ends, leaving viewers with so many unanswered questions.
Who wins the match at the end of Challengers?
We would love to know, but unfortunately, there's no answer to that question. That first point of the tie-break is definitely for Patrick (in tennis, it's not allowed to touch or in this case fly off the net), but there's no way to know the outcome of the remaining six points.
It might feel unsatisfying for some viewers not knowing who ultimately wins the match, but perhaps that's not important at all.
"I chose to end the movie where I ended the movie, and I chose to end it there because for me, the movie is over. For me, what's going on with these people has resolved in some way that's satisfying enough for me," screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes told IndieWire.
"I really love movies where you leave and you have a discussion about the ending, or you have a discussion about what ends up happening to everybody and you can get into arguments about it with the people you saw the movie with.
"I love that people are having those conversations and are having those reactions."
Related: How Challengers makes a welcome queer change to the love triangle
For Josh O'Connor, who plays Patrick, this is a perfect ending because "they have found each other" at a moment of uncertainty in their lives.
"They've been all searching for a way and getting it terribly wrong, searching for a way to satisfy that need, that hunger for each other. And they're all trying to find their way in different ways," he told Entertainment Weekly.
"For Art, maybe it's getting out of tennis and being with the family, reconnecting with his wife. For Tashi, it's finding that satisfaction in tennis that she lost by having her career stunted.
"For Patrick, it's also finding that feeling of flow when he was playing tennis with Art as a youngster, or watching Tashi playing tennis as a youngster.
"In the end, despite the messiest way of navigating themselves there, Patrick realises in a moment that he's got both of them there, forgets everyone else in the stadium, and it's just like, 'I know exactly how to get him into a place that will satisfy me, him, and her, and let's just have that.'"
Why does Tashi scream at the end of Challengers?
One of the aspects of the Challengers ending that is creating more theories and interpretations is Tashi's scream. Is she happy both friends are finally reunited? Is she screaming in anger? Or is she simply enjoying some "good f**king tennis"?
In an interview with The New York Times, Zendaya talked about her mum's interesting interpretation of Tashi's reaction in that last shot.
"My mom read the ending so different. My mom is like, 'She's pissed because they realise that they don't need her anymore'," Zendaya recalled.
"I was like, 'But I smile a little bit at the end!' My mom was watching behind me and every time my character does something bad or cheats on her husband or whatever, she's like, 'Why do you do that?' She's so angry with Tashi, she's so upset. But it's interesting, I was like, 'What? I don't know where you got that from.'
"I'm in the movie and I feel like I have a good sense of what I thought this ending was supposed to be, and she was like, 'No. This is what it is. So sorry'."
Guadagnino liked that reading, even if that wasn't exactly his intention.
"Tashi's a director. She's like Lermontov in The Red Shoes, she makes things happen. And maybe your mum is right, maybe Tashi wants them to find each other," he told Zendaya during the interview.
"All of them do that: the way they look at each other – the glances, the actions, the profanity they go through – it's just to find each other again. But I like what your mum says, because it adds another level that goes beyond our intentions. For me, she smiles at the end, if you're going to freeze the frame.
"Isn't it so beautiful that we have an open ending that people like? Because everybody says, 'No. Never open ending. You have to know what happens at the end.'"
Now, what happens after the final match? How do these characters move on with their lives?
Guadagnino simply replied: "They go back to the hotel."
Challengers is now available to watch on Prime Video.
Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
