The film credits roll before we’re able to see how the tennis umpire calls the point (the umpire is played by Zendaya’s longtime friend and assistant Darnell Appling, btw).
Given that in tennis you’re not even allowed to touch the net, it’s hard to say whether Art is the real winner here. As the audience, we ultimately don’t know who won the point, even as the crowd cheers and Tashi leaps to her feet.
Regardless, she screams “Come on!”, just as she did when the two first watched her play, and is clearly roused by the quality tennis she’s seeing unfold.
Truly, it’s the first time in the film she seems to exhibit genuine, visceral fire for either of the two, with them finally playing the type of tennis which she refers to earlier in the film – when she likens playing a worthy opponent to being in a relationship: “It’s like we were in love.”
Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures
In an interview with Variety, screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes says, “Tennis, by its nature, is a very erotic sport,” explaining: “It’s very sexy. And you usually play tennis against somebody of the same gender, so tennis, by its nature, then becomes almost homoerotic.”
There’s certainly some loaded vibes at the film’s conclusion, with two sweaty men tangled up as one’s wife and the other’s former lover looks on in admiration.
So who actually won the match in the Challengers ending?
While we won’t ever know for sure, it’s clear that Art has found a new lease of life for the sport, with the vigour that he’s been missing well and truly back. Ultimately, Art never came with the goal of winning the challenger, but rather to rediscover his self-belief, and Challengers ends on a note that certainly feels like he’s in the right mental space to win the US Open.
With all three of them fired up from the match, in the end it doesn’t really matter if Art won… because it’s clear that something else was reawakened in him.