Challengers’ cryptic ending has been solved by a professional tennis umpire

The final match of Challengers left audiences with questions, but a professional umpire has cleared some things up.

Everything that transpires in Challengers boils down to one final match. After rising the ranks in a Challenger tournament, Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) come head-to-head after years of friendship, scheming, and estrangement. It’s an electric display of athleticism and history, all coming down to one final spike from Art.

However, it’s not entirely clear what happens in the final moments. In the Challengers ending, Art jumps up to spike the ball, and hammers it down. He flies over the net and leaps forward, falling into the arms of Patrick.

The two embrace, clearly having come to terms with their previously toxic relationship and entanglement with Tashi (Zendaya). It’s a cathartic moment, but it remains unclear exactly what went down with the match itself, or whether that point for Art counted.

Thankfully, a professional tennis umpire has since answered some lingering questions. Speaking to Slate, David Hanzes, section chair of officials for the U.S. Tennis Association’s Eastern Division, analysed the fictional game. And when it comes to whether that point counts for Art, he had a few thoughts.

“First of all, the player is not allowed to reach over the net to hit the ball,” Hanzes explained, “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?”

When told that the ball is hit from an extremely high angle, and it probably wouldn’t have bounced a second time or left the court by the time Art falls onto Patrick, Hanzes responded, “It would probably bounce pretty high up in the air. In that case Art would lose the point.”

So, in all likelihood, Art’s spike would not have counted (despite how cool it looked.) But what does this mean for the rest of the game? Well, the final moment takes place during the first point of a tiebreaker, and Hanzes clarified just what would have to happen for the winner to be decided.

“It’s a 7-point tiebreak,” he said, “Now Patrick is up, 1–0. The first player to 7 points, by two, wins the third set and thus the match.”

With the point not counting towards Art, and no indication of who would go on to win the match, Hanzes’ clarification gives the ultimate answer: it really doesn’t matter. The ending of Challengers is not to determine who the better tennis player is, but to focus on the climax of a decades-long relationship between Art and Patrick. It’s also about the quality of the game itself, rather than the result.

For Art, Patrick, and Tashi, a good game of tennis has been the goal. After years of not playing together, Art and Patrick are finally able to duke it out in the best way they know how, and what comes of it is one incredible game. The winner is irrelevant.

For more on Zendaya’s newest movie, you can find out if Challengers was based on a true story. You can also jam out to the Challengers soundtrack or keep an eye on where the Challengers box office is at.