CHALLENGERS

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

August, 2019, New Rochelle, NY – Tennis player Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) is competing as a wild card in a Challenger event. He is competing against Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) in his final set. Watching in the crowd is Art’s wife and coach, Tashi Duncan (Zendaya).

Two weeks earlier, Tashi and Art are seen getting ready for the event, despite Art recovering from an injury. They live with their daughter, Lily (AJ Lister). Art is hoping for a comeback after suffering several recent losses.Tashi pushes Art hard for a win, seemingly more invested in the sport than in their relationship. When Art tells Tashi he loves her, she simply replies, “I know.”

Days earlier, Patrick is seen failing to book a room at a motel because his card has been declined, and he fails to convince the clerk to let him pay with one of his rackets. Patrick ends up sleeping in his car in the parking lot of the court. He goes to sign up and is given half of a sandwich out of pity by the sign-in lady. Patrick then learns that he is set to compete against Art, to his visible dismay.

2006 – Thirteen years earlier, Art and Patrick are shown to have been best friends since childhood and fellow tennis players who go by “Fire and Ice”. They win the junior doubles title at the US Open before going on to watch Tashi, then a highly prospective young player, going up against another player, Anna Mueller (Emma Davis). Tashi is victorious, yelling out “COME ONNNNN!” while Mueller smashes her racket in frustration. Both Art and Patrick quickly become smitten with her.

At night, the two approach Tashi at a party and introduce themselves before Patrick invites her to their hotel room. Tashi later does show up and bonds with the two boys, learning how they have been friends since they were 12 and trained at the same tennis academy. Patrick goes into more personal details, like explaining to Tashi how he taught Art how to masturbate. Tashi then invites the boys onto the bed, where they take turns kissing her before it segues into a three-way makeout session. Tashi then slowly pulls herself away and watches in amusement as Art and Patrick continue kissing. Before leaving, Tashi tells them that she will give her number to whoever wins their match the next day since Art and Patrick are facing each other.

During the match, Patrick ends up victorious, earning Tashi’s number. Later, when he and Art are playing one-on-one, Patrick uses Art’s tell (holding the ball to the racket’s neck before serving), per Art’s request, to confirm that he and Tashi had sex.

Earlier in the week before the present day match, Patrick is shown looking for prospective housing by finding dates on Tinder. He finds a woman named Helen (Hailey Gates) who is staying at a hotel and arranges a date with her. At the hotel, Patrick sees Tashi and goes to speak with her. She is none too happy to see Patrick and urges him to stay away from her, plus Art and Lily. Patrick then goes back to Helen and quickly seduces her, securing his room.

2007 – Tashi and Patrick have entered a steady relationship, and she and Art now play for Stanford University. After a practice session, Tashi has lunch with Art, who questions her relationship with Patrick, and tells her that Patrick doesn’t really love her. Tashi says she doesn’t care if anyone loves her and coldly tells him off.

Patrick shows up to hang out with Art at the cafeteria and tease him, knowing he is jealous of Patrick’s relationship with Tashi, before going to Tashi’s room to get intimate. However, Patrick gets put off since she speaks to him like she is coaching him, which puts him off since he feels she is giving unsolicited advice. This turns into a bitter argument with Patrick storming out.

Tashi competes in another match, with only Art watching. She makes a bad move and severely injures her left knee, taking her out of the game. While she is recovering with Art by her side, Patrick shows up but is told by both Tashi and Art to get out.

Art later tries to train with Tashi as she recovers, with her insisting not to go easy on her just because she is injured. Sadly, she cannot go too hard without falling over, and Tashi realizes her tennis career is over.

2010 – Art and Tashi reconnect and have dinner before becoming romantically involved. He tells her that he and Patrick have not spoken ever since her injury. She later becomes his coach.

In the 2019 match, Patrick does well in the first set, but starts to fall behind as the game progresses, and he is shown to be losing his cool. Another flashback from days before the match shows Patrick approaching Tashi to ask her to be his coach so that he can work his way to a comeback. She instead slaps him and brutally calls him out for how far he has fallen and trying to pass himself off as a down-on-his-luck athlete. Patrick fires back that Tashi doesn’t actually love Art and knows that he is ready to quit the sport, and if Art isn’t playing tennis anymore, then Tashi no longer has a connection to the sport, as that is implicitly the only reason she has stuck with Art.

The day before the match, Patrick approaches Art in the sauna in the hopes of reconciling with him, but also fully nude in an attempt to intimidate him. Patrick still thinks their rift has to do with Tashi, which brings up a memory of Art competing in the 2011 Atlanta Open, and he witnessed Tashi and Patrick meeting for a one-night stand. Art instead lets Patrick know that his glory days are behind him, and Art is moving up in the sport and will be remembered more fondly than Patrick.

Later that night, Art tells Tashi that he plans to retire after the match whether he wins or not, even though he knows it might upset her since he knows she is still experiencing tennis through him. She tells Art that if he loses to Patrick, she will leave him. At midnight, Tashi sneaks out and meets with Patrick in the middle of a heavy wind. She asks Patrick to lose the match on purpose. They drive away arguing before he reluctantly agrees. Tashi starts trying to walk away, and when Patrick tries to stop her, she spits in his face before they begin to passionately embrace and have sex in his car.

Returning to the match, Patrick starts to attempt to throw the match by stalling and by swearing out loud. After a while, he then decides to actually start playing after using Art’s tell to indicate that he and Tashi had sex again. Art also swears out loud, earning him a penalty, but he lets Patrick catch up to him until they are tied. When they reach the tie break, Art and Patrick then begin to give it their all, with their passion for the sport having been reinvigorated. They take quick and furious turns until they both get close to the net. Art jumps for the ball, seemingly about to strike Patrick, but he falls over the net and is caught by Patrick. As the crowd cheers for them, Art and Patrick once again embrace as close friends. Tashi joins the crowd and lets out a hyped up “COME ONNNNN!” in support.

The film jumps back and forth between the past and present, so this is the chronological series of events:

Art Donaldson and Patrick Zwieg have been best friends and fellow tennis players since they were 12. In 2006, after winning a junior doubles match, they meet the talented up-and-coming player Tashi Duncan, and they both fall head over heels for her. Patrick succeeds in winning Tashi over, but after she suffers a career-ending injury, she and Art cut ties with Patrick due to his behavior towards them. Art and Tashi later form a relationship, and she becomes his coach, but Art knows that she and Patrick still had an affair when he was competing in Atlanta in 2011.

By 2019, Art and Tashi are a wealthy power couple, but it is strongly suggested that she doesn't return his love and is only with him because it's the only way she can stay connected to tennis. Patrick has since gone broke and is living out of his car, hoping for a comeback. He tries to get Tashi to coach him, but she rejects him. When Art tells her that he plans to retire after he competes against Patrick in a Challenger match in New York. She indicates that she will leave Art if he loses, and she later secretly meets with Patrick to get him to throw the match before she has sex with him again.

During the match, Patrick wins the first set, and Art wins the second. Patrick starts trying to lose on purpose until he uses Art's tell (holding the ball to the racket's neck before serving) to let him know he and Tashi had sex. After letting Patrick catch up to him, the two get into a more heated game, which reinvigorates Art's passion for the sport. Before the two can collide in hitting the ball, Patrick catches Art before he falls over, and the two embrace each other while Tashi cheers along with the crowd.