Sports move strong emotions around the world. Soccer, basketball, tennis… you name it: people from all around follow every game or match while cheering for their favorites. Regarding tennis, there are some names that have dominated the sport for at least two decades. On the men's side, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic created a legacy never seen before. On the women's side of the court, the sisters Serena and Venus Williams have commanded the sport and sent powerful messages whilst doing it. Now, these players are retiring or on the verge of doing so. Then comes the obvious question: who are going to be the next great players?
That's the question Break Point, the new sports documentary series by Netflix, tries to answer – or at least speculate. From the same creators of Formula 1: Drive to Survive, that was hit show is about the motorsport. Break Point tries to emulate the success of its predecessor with tennis, that endless to say, is a very different sport. The first five episodes were released and have a lot of mixed reviews – tending to the negative side.
Here is a comparison of both docuseries, and Break Point's strongest and weakest elements.
Tennis Versus Formula 1
As soon as Break Point was announced there was a lot of pressure to live up to Drive to Survive levels of fame. The Formula 1 docuseries changed the sport forever having improved its viewership around the world to impossible levels. However, there are few sports that are as intense and dramatic as Formula 1, which goes hand in hand with its nature: motorsport. The million-dollar contracts, team rivalries (and amongst teammates), how restricted the number of athletes is (only 20 men around the world can call themselves F1 pilots), and above all else: the drivers risk their lives every time the lights go out, and a race starts.
So, to take an individual and much slower sport like tennis in which a good game can last up to five hours presents a much bigger challenge. The pressure to get one of the 20 seats available in F1 is not a reality in tennis, where a tournament starts with over 100 athletes. Granted, the ones that get to the rounds closer to the final are very few. While there is a lot of pressure on these tennis athletes to win matches, their contracts are not on the line. However, this particularity showcases an interesting element in tennis: the players don't have salaries. They get paid based on the matches and tournaments they win. So, the stakes are high for these athletes that have to endure long matches in estranged weather, but they are different and harder to show on the screen.
A Different Approach
Because tennis is a much more personal sport at its core, there is no team or teammates to get behind once the athletes step into the court. They are alone, and only their technique and preparation (physical and mental) can make them win. As David Foster Wallace wrote in his book, Infinite Jest, "The true opponent, the enfolding boundary, is the player himself. Always and only the self out there, on court, to be met, fought, brought to the table to hammer out terms."
The way the series was shot had to blend with the nature of the sport. In five episodes, the viewer gets to see the personal struggles some of the athletes had in two Grand Slams (Australian Open and Roland-Garros), the most prestigious tournaments of the year, and two other important tournaments (Indian Wells Masters and Mutua Madrid Open) in the 2022 ATP Tour and WTA Tour. From the athletes' partners to their coaches, who they were and what they had to do to succeed is the focus.
The creators of the show James Gay-Reese and Paul Martin said they wanted to portray the human side of the sport, focusing on these players outside the court: and showcasing the pressures and struggles they have. One of the highlights of these first episodes is the honesty these players have when talking about their problems. Like Paula Badosa's candid conversation about mental health, including her anxiety and depression. Bedosa explains that you want to appear indestructible to the other player: you want them to think you are perfect.
Being open about these mental health issues damages that illusion, but she did it anyway and was highly praised for it. There's also the case of tennis "bad boy" Nick Kyrgios, who was considered to be the next best thing, but the pressure placed on his shoulders after his unlikely win on Nadal when he was only 19 years old made him have to take months off the sport at a time. Or even the only Tunisian player, Ons Jabeur, on the tournament and her emotional landmark for African women in tennis. This is where the documentary shines and gives an exclusive insight into who these people are and what being a professional tennis player entails.
Did Break Point Work?
It's hard to state if the show actually worked, since Netflix didn't release the whole season. Break Point is receiving some criticism from long-time tennis fans and critics alike, but that is something that Drive to Survive still deals with – even with the amount of success it has. Nevertheless, while the series focuses a lot on the tennis players, there was one element that felt a bit lacking: the sport itself.
Tennis is a sport that does feel a bit unattainable for various reasons but especially because of how unique it is. When it comes to the matches, they are not the focus of the episodes, which enrages various people. The complicated point system and strict rules may be a reason why the show decided to step back and make it more accessible – in the sense that they are simplified and not really explained. That would probably be the biggest weakness of these episodes, as the matches, just like the races in F1, are what makes people come back time and time again to follow the sport.
Break Point's remaining episodes are due to premiere in June. There is hope that it learns from its errors and enhances the positive elements. But most of all: dive deeper into the matches and who these players are. Nevertheless, new and long-time fans can enjoy the 2023 Australian Open, which is currently happening, and the other tournaments and see familiar faces from the documentary before continuing to watch the recap of last year's season.