Art or Patrick? Challengers stars weigh in on who Zendaya's Tashi really loves

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Challengers.

It's game, set, and match for Zendaya's Tashi in Challengers.

While the former tennis prodigy had her career cut short after a devastating injury, she still has complete control over her "little white boys," Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O'Connor) — both on the court and off. Their sizzling love triangle plays out over many years, first as Tashi meets — and hooks up with — the friends-turned-rivals as teenagers before dating Patrick in college. Then, after reuniting with Art years later, she ultimately marries him, and they have a daughter together. But with her secret flings with Patrick behind Art's back and her refusal to give Art the love he's so clearly desperate for, it's hard to say which man Tashi loves more — or if she even loves them at all.

Since director Luca Guadagnino's heart-pounding film doesn't explicitly reveal who Tashi loves most or ends up with, Entertainment Weekly asked the trio of actors where they believe Tashi's heart truly lies amidst all her back-and-forth volleys. "What do you guys think?" Zendaya asks her two costars. "I have an idea, but I don't know what you guys think."

"Yeah, what do you think?" O'Connor repeats as Faist thinks about his answer.

"I don't know," Faist says. "I think it's this idea of — listen, I think all three of these people, ultimately, their first love is this sport, and they, therefore, then deeply understand each other and what their motivational factors are. They understand this unspoken innateness that exists in all three of them. So in an aspect, there is this admiration and understanding of each other. And then, on the other hand, too, there is this, I don't know, at least for Art, I can't say for Tashi, I don't know. You'll have to speak to that. I don't know, and quite frankly, it's none of my business to know."

Zendaya laughs as she asks Faist again, "But I'm asking you. What do you think?"

"I don't know," Faist says again as they all laugh. "And who cares what I think is what I'm saying. But I could speak for Art a little bit."

He motions to Zendaya and O'Connor as he continues. "Both of these two characters are so much more secure in themselves as to who they are, and that's a quality that just does not exist within Art, so there is this just adoration and admiration for this quality that they possess to the point of like, he wants to consume them," Faist says. "He kind of tries to become them through osmosis. But I don't know if that's actual love for someone or the love of the idea of that person, but at the end of the day, I think there is this baseline understanding that is unspoken between the three of them."

The stars laugh again as Zendaya points out that Faist "did not answer the question," and he apologizes. O'Connor gives it his best shot as Zendaya and Faist continue to laugh. "Let's watch Josh stumble his way through it," O'Connor jokes as Zendaya promises that "there's no wrong answer."

"I think she needs them. I don't know that she loves them, but I think she needs them," O'Connor offers. "And I think Patrick needs these two, and Art needs these two. I think they need each other, which is deeply unhealthy and probably not love. But I think that's what it is. And I think that's similar to what you are saying as to like, 'consume.'"

"Yes, to a degree," Faist adds. "Maybe that is love!"

"I want to know," Zendaya says.

— Additional reporting from Gerrad Hall

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