Challengers Ending: Who Won The Final Point In Art & Patrick's Tennis Match Broken Down By Umpire

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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Challengers

Summary Challengers may lack a clear tennis match winner, but it excels in exploring complex friendships and relationships.

The ambiguous ending keeps viewers guessing, but a U.S. Tennis Association official sheds light on the outcome.

There does not seem to be a clear winner in Challengers, as the match is not yet over.

Challengers is all about tennis, but it fails to provide the one thing that nearly every tennis match will: A decisive victor. The movie has a strong cast in Zendaya (Tashi), Josh O'Connor (Patrick), and Mike Faist (Art), who each play one of three friends who bonded over tennis. After Tashi's career-ending injury, the trio struggles to recover their friendship, which has broken down because of professional and romantic struggles.

The conclusion clarifies the relationship drama, but the match victor is never shown. The Challengers ending is ambiguous and leaves no clear answer about who won the final match between Patrick and Art. To clarify the answer, Slate conducted an interview with the section chair of officials for the U.S. Tennis Association’s Eastern Division, David Hanzes. Having reviewed the ending, Hanzes can provide his own conclusions. Check out his quotes below:

Hanzes: First of all, the player is not allowed to reach over the net to hit the ball. The ball has to come over the net before he strikes it... There’s also a rule that you cannot go over into the other player’s side while the point is still in play. And you can’t touch your opponent. The question would be: Where is the ball when he makes contact with his opponent? It would probably bounce pretty high up in the air.

Slate: So probably it hasn’t bounced a second time, or flown out of the court, or anything else that would end the point, before Art lands on Patrick.

Hanzes: In that case Art would lose the point... It’s a 7-point tiebreak. Now Patrick is up, 1–0. The first player to 7 points, by two, wins the third set and thus the match.

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Source: Slate