“Tennis has gone global” thanks to Netflix, according to, er, Netflix.
You can forgive such unabashed self-promotion within a documentary that is a high-powered hype machine for the sport itself, but it should be noted that this is an overstatement of Break Point’s success.
If tennis bosses were hoping for the Drive to Survive boom that Formula One experienced, the raw numbers have left them disappointed. Netflix published viewing figures in full this year for the first time, showing golf’s behind-the-scenes documentary blew tennis out of the water. In the battle of the individual sports, Saudi-fuelled tension won the ratings war.
Such strain between governing bodies and players over millions of dollars is fertile ground for documentary makers, you would think, but the second season of Break Point shies away from political drama.
In the episode dedicated to Alexander Zverev, the allegations of domestic violence against him get no mention. He was investigated by the ATP, who said they had found “insufficient evidence to substantiate published allegations of abuse”.
Saudi Arabia is not mentioned at all, despite the fact it is all anyone in the locker room can talk about, privately.
The Middle Eastern kingdom hosted their first ATP event in December and have already reportedly started talks about hijacking the main tour, along with the grand slams, to create a “super tour”. No one seems to be objecting.
Maybe that is where the Saudi Arabian storyline falls down, the lack of tension.
In golf, the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy stand firm against the sports-washing of the Saudi state. In tennis, you would be hard pressed to find a player willing to put their head above the parapet.
When – not if – Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman enters the inner circle of tennis, he will be welcomed with open arms.
That is not to say that the second season of Break Point is not compelling, even if the characters involved will divide opinion. Many will find the Zverev episode hard or impossible to watch given the accusations of Olga Sharypova, his ex-girlfriend. Initially, he does not endear himself to the neutral either.
“You guys took the wrong personalities to film the first season. You should have been filming me. That’s just drama that is there,” he says in one of the show’s many self-referential moments. (The first episode is mostly based around the so-called Netflix Curse, where almost all of series one’s stars were struck down by injury or misfortune just days after release.)
He does have a point though, and the choice of stars in the first six episodes seems pretty prudent: Aryna Sabalenka’s run to the Australian Open title is filled with jeopardy, her temperament seemingly a ticking time-bomb, so much so that her mindset coach Jason Stacy sanctions the conversations of every member of her team.
Danish youngster Holger Rune is similarly explosive and he is surrounded by two of tennis’s great enigmas in his husky-voiced mother Aneke and coiffured coach Patrick Mouratoglou, both of whom feature heavily; the fraternal camaraderie of the Americans Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul may grate a little but it is not confected, and each is a star in their own unique way.
But there are few of the standout moments of drama that make Break Point’s competitors such appointment viewing.
Zverev’s sobbing in the locker room is certainly a rare moment of candour and the microphones in every coaching box during matches helps provide real time commentary – although what you really learn is that most coaches say much the same kind of thing, alternating between swearing in frustration and fist-pumping “let’s go” in various languages.
One real star addition is Naomi Osaka, who is making her on-court comeback this month after having her first child.
In a talking head capacity, she is astute and open, a marked difference from the anxiety and pained introversion that cut her off from the tennis world even while she was still playing. She speaks like a woman who is growing into herself, and while the show is not about her at the moment, it is a bonus to have her offer real insight.
