The start of next year will also see a first for the world of professional tennis.
After months of filming, the first part of Netflix’s early awaited Break Point docuseries will be broadcasted. A lot has been said about the programme but what are the most important things tennis fans need to know?
What is Break Point?
Inspired by the success of Formula One’s acclaimed Drive To Survive, Break Point is the tennis equivalent. The docuseries follows players’ progress on both the men’s and women’s Tour’s during the 2022 season. Looking at their experiences both on and off the court. Tennis officials will be hoping to promote the sport to a wider audience with the focus not being on either the Big Three or the Williams sisters but on other top players.
Who will be featured in the programme?
According to a press release, 15 players will be featured in the TV series. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are not among them but it is possible they could still feature in a minor role.
Women’s world No.1 Iga Swiatek is involved with the programme documenting her rise in the sport this year. Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur, Aryna Sabalenka, Maria Sakkari, Sloane Stephens and Ajla Tomljanovic will also feature.
The ATP side will be represented by Felix Auger-Aliassime, Matteo Berrettini, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Nick Kyrgios, Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
There will also be interviews with Paul Annacone, Chris Evert, Patrick Mouratoglou, Toni Nadal, Martina Navratilova, Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova.
What has the producer said about it?
British filmmaker James Gay-Rees is one of the executive producers of Break Point who has received various honours for his work in the industry. Gay-Rees has previously won a Sports Emmy for his work on Formula 1: Drive to Survive, a BAFTA for his involvement in the production of the film Senna which tells the life of F1 racer Aryton Senner and won multiple awards for his work on the film Amy which told the story of late singer Amy Winehouse.
“You obviously want to keep the core audience happy — the tennis enthusiasts — but if we’re doing our job correctly, then the show should appeal to people who’ve got no interest in tennis at all,” Gay-Rees told The Associated Press. “The pre-‘Drive to Survive’ Formula One demographic might have been described by some people as fairly male, pale and stale. And I think that the show, alongside some other factors, has contributed to the demographic shifting significantly younger for that sport, which is obviously manna from heaven if that’s what your objective was.”
Paul Martin, who was also involved in the making of Drive To Survive, is the other executive producer.
What have players said?
In a recent interview with Arab News, Italy’s Berrettini was confident that the programme would be a success as it provides fans glimpses of life behind-the-scenes for him and his peers.
“It’s been fun,” he said of being part of the Netflix project.
“At the beginning I was like, what is this? Obviously when you win it’s always easy to have people around you and stuff but then when you lose, it’s tougher, you want to be by yourself, you don’t want to be bothered. But I was like, if I’m going to do this, I want to do it the right way. And that’s what I tried to do. I think it’s going to be really interesting to show people behind-the-scenes the stuff you don’t usually see.”
Meanwhile, earlier this year Kyrgios said he wanted to take part to break the stigma of tennis being “a very white privileged sport.”
“I loved the fact that I was able to show my path and the way I go about it and how I connect with people,” Kyrgios told the newspaper in April.
“I think it’s a very different side to how people would perceive most tennis players. I think it’s a special thing for other coloured athletes that do want to play tennis to see myself, you know, you have (Frances) Tiafoe out there right now, (Naomi) Osaka, us doing it the way we are doing it.”
Series format and air date
Break Point will debut on Netflix on January 13 2023 which is three days before the start of the Australian Open.
Each episode will center around a tournament with a focus on a select few players. The first five episodes will cover tournaments that took place at Melbourne Park (Australian Open), Indian Wells, Madrid and Roland Garros.
EP 1: Australian Open – Kyrgios and Kokkinakis
EP 2: Australian Open – Berrettini and Tomljanovic
EP 3: Indian Wells – Sakkari and Fritz
EP 4: Madrid – Jabeur and Badosa
EP 5: French Open – Auger-Aliassime and Ruud
Another five episodes will be broadcasted but they will not be available to the public until June. They will cover what went on at Wimbledon, Eastbourne, The Queen’s Club, US Open, WTA Finals and ATP Finals.
