This story contains spoilers for Challengers. If you haven’t had a chance to watch yet, check out our spoiler free review.
Love triangles are a trope as old as time, but Challengers’ central entanglement offers a new spin on the cliche. We still get two boys trying to one-up each other for the attention of a girl, but she’s not looking for the best one to fulfill a white-picket fence fantasy. Zendaya’s Tashi Duncan wants greatness. She demands it of herself and from those who wish to be in her company. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a Luca Guadagnino film is more about Patrick (Josh O’Connor) and Art’s (Mike Faist) relationship with each other than it is about their relationship with Tashi, but the dynamic works because Tashi doesn’t love either of them. She loves tennis. And it is that love that drives all three of them to the emotional connection they seek.
The movie bounces between timelines, following the trio through college and into their professional careers, examining their shifting power dynamics as Patrick and Art face off in the adult timeline for their shot at competing in the U.S. Open. It’s so refreshing to see a female character, especially at the center of a romantic movie, whose primary drive isn’t finding a husband and starting a family. Tashi is never coy about what drives her. Art and Patrick are just too distracted by their own dreams and desires for her to listen to what she’s saying.
She spells it out for them after the duo sequesters her on a beach after her junior tournament win celebration early on in the film. “You don’t know what tennis is,” she informs the boys, “It’s a relationship.” She goes on to explain how her match earlier was like being in love and that she and her opponent “went somewhere beautiful together.” The high of a perfect volley is what Tashi is chasing, while Art and Patrick spend the movie attempting to replace that rush for her.
Patrick thinks he’s the early winner when he defeats Art in their own junior championship final the day after the beach party and gets Tashi’s number but, the thing is, Tashi’s attraction to Art at that point in the film has nothing to do with how he feels about her. She instantly admonishes him when she realizes he’s trying to manipulate her—”What makes you think I want someone to be in love with me?”—but Art has been putting in the work to be a better tennis player while Patrick cruises at the bottom of the rankings on the pro circuit. That’s why Tashi entertains Art’s antics. When Patrick asks to stop talking about tennis, Tashi loses interest and their relationship instantly implodes. A few hours later, she tears her knee and Art is there to dry her tears and pick up the pieces of her broken heart.
With her personal aspirations destroyed, Tashi pivots to coaching. She can’t be far from the game. Patrick temporarily fades into the background and Art steps up to be the engine for Tashi’s new dream. He realizes that positioning himself as the better boyfriend isn’t the move, so he swears he’ll be the better tennis player. This is the moment where Art seems to understand Tashi the most, but it is also his downfall.
Art’s tactic does work for a while. He and Tashi get married and have a kid. They have a foundation and lots of money. He became a very good pro tennis player, almost great, even, but he grows tired and ultimately wants to quit before his promise to Tashi to reach her dream is fulfilled. When Tashi realizes he’s giving up, her affection wanes.
Challengers isn’t a movie for people with a weak stomach for infidelity. If this movie were about either Patrick or Art finding love with Tashi, then maybe it would matter more how she bounces between the two. But there’s a reason that you see the moment she agrees to coach Art but you never see footage of their wedding. Art resents that Tashi doesn’t find their marital life enough, but Tashi never wants to be the prize. Her mission throughout the entire film is to get either…
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