Months of enticing promotions are finally complete ahead of Opening Day for the Challengers . The comedy, starring Zendaya, Josh O'Connor and Mike Feist, premiered on April 26 and finally reveals how the tennis love triangle of Tashi, Patrick and Art resolves. Sort of. Moviegoers then turned to social media to discuss the film, as "Contenders" 's ending proved to be ambiguous and even divisive.
How does the challenger end?
Major spoilers ahead for Challengers ahead . Challenger begins and ends with Art (Feaster) and Patrick (O'Connor) competing against each other in the final match of the Challenger Tennis Tournament in New Rochelle, New York. They battle under the watchful eyes of Tashi (Zendaya), who happens to be their mutual love, and Art's victory-obsessed wife and coach. By jumping between the past and present, we slowly learn how their lives—and their hearts and hormones—have been intertwined since they were teenagers.
As the film comes to a close, we see Tashi struggling with Art's retirement plans. She begs Patrick to throw the game away so Art can rediscover his passion for tennis, and then she sleeps with him. Still, Tashi didn't know if he would abide by their agreement, and tensions grew as Arter emerged victorious on final day.
Then, when match point arrived, Patrick used the symbol he and Art agreed upon as teenagers to express that he had hooked up with Tashi. Arter refused to take Patrick's serve and ultimately lost the match, and they had to play a tight decider to decide the winner.
As the showdown begins, these two are rocking the boat, both literally and figuratively. They played with a renewed intensity, culminating in a series of close-range volleys. Then, when Art rose to fire an overhead shot, he improbably jumped over the net and into Patrick's arms, and the two embraced on the court. Tashi shouted from the stands: "Come on!" just like she did in her glory days as a player.
Who won the game?
The film leaves us there, a few minutes from the end of the game. Tennis tie-breaks are played until one player reaches seven points and leads by two, so viewers never see who will win, Art or Patrick. Even the outcome of the climactic point is unclear due to the complex rules of tennis and the way the scene is shot. (I personally think Art loses points after touching the net, but that depends on whether the ball bounces again on Patrick's side before contact. Then there's the issue of jumping on the opponent, which seems to me like no matter how enthusiastic he is reception, this is an obstacle).
But the ultimate winner doesn't matter. The film ends with Art, Patrick, and Tashi enjoying tennis and each other again. Director Luca Guadagnino told Entertainment Weekly: "I needed to make this very, very exciting visually so that the audience could really immerse themselves in it and understand that they're not defeating each other but reuniting. means something to them."
How did the audience react to the ending?
Due to the ambiguity, not everyone knows how it ends. Some fans expressed confusion about X and asked what it meant. Others said they had "a lot of questions" or used sad emojis because it didn't make sense to them.
Meanwhile, another segment of the audience strongly disliked the final scene. "The ending of #Challengers is...something," one person tweeted. Another moviegoer said it made them "very angry," while others made it clear that they loved the movie despite the ending.
On the other hand, some fans found it "delightful" and even "ridiculous but also perfect." "So obsessed with the ending of Challengers," one fan wrote. Some people loved it so much that they asked for a sequel.
For screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, everything we need is right there. "These people, they existed the moment we met them and they ceased to exist the moment we left," he told TODAY .
