The tennis world has been left somewhat confused by the much-anticipated ‘Drive to Survive’-style Netflix documentary centred on the sport, ‘Break Point’.
Talented Aussie controversy magnet Nick Kyrgios is the focal point of the early stages of the series, an understandable decision given how much attention and interest he draws both in and out of the locker room.
But, with the first half of the series to be released this week followed by another five episodes in June, it appears any attempt to offer real insight into the sport or its stars has flopped.
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“Having seen the cameras in action through most of the past year, it is surprising that there is not more explosive behind-the-scenes footage,” The Times’ Stuart Fraser wrote.
“Inevitably ‘Break Point’ begins its profile-based format with its most interesting personality in Kyrgios. Starting the year at the Australian Open, it builds a sympathetic profile of the volatile Australian during his run to a first grand-slam title in the doubles with partner and close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis.
“We see fist bumps with Andy Murray as they pass each other in a backstage corridor, pre-match chats with Liam Broady before their first-round singles contest and even a video call with his girlfriend, Costeen Hatzi, in which he is struggling to urinate for a drugs test.
“There are very few new revelations – again it must be considered that this will be a first insight into tennis for many viewers – but it is still interesting to hear Kyrgios and his associates expand on his previous struggles.”
In the series, Kyrgios opens up on the “chaotic” start to his career including how manager and close friend Daniel Horsfall used to have to track the Canberran on his phone after big nights out drinking and partying.
“On some mornings, I would physically have to go and find where you were,” Horsfall says.
“What hotel you were staying at, whose house you were staying at. Before tournaments … before a match.”
Rival players are also interviewed about Kyrgios – which is where the series should get interesting, but appears not to.
“He’s not a bad guy,” Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas says in the series which premieres on January 13. “He just becomes the devil when he enters the court.”
But that is the exception to the otherwise ignored rule.
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The Telegraph’s Simon Briggs was also of the opinion that the series missed the mark.
He finds it bizarre how Kyrgios’ reputation is smoothed over, turning “Mr Spiky into a cuddly toy”, while other fights known to take place during the 2022 tennis season are ignored.
“After all the buzz surrounding this project, ‘Break Point’ was expected to dive under the surface of Planet Tennis and reveal the feuds and factions beneath. Perhaps it is these lofty expectations that made the gentle, uncontroversial tone of episode one feel like a letdown,” he wrote.
“On the odd occasions where a little aggro does flare up, it starts a wave of excited rubbernecking among fans and media. It’s something that would never happen in a less decorous sport – such as boxing, say. This makes it all the stranger that ‘Break’s Point’s’ producers missed two gimmes in the first half of the season.
“I am thinking not only of the Kyrgios-(Michael) Venus showdown (in their Aus Open doubles quarter-final) but also of the French Open, and tennis’ best attempt at a Scandi noir.
“Why does the row between Denmark’s Holger Rune and Norway’s Casper Ruud, whom Rune claimed had yelled ‘Ja!’ in his face, make no appearance? Admittedly, episode five of ‘Break Point’ features a Ruud argument at the French Open. Unfortunately, Ruud was not arguing with Rune – but with a groundsman over a weather-related delay to his practice session.”
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It’s not just feuds that are ignored, but some of the biggest stories of the year – eerily similar to how the F1 series has totally failed to include Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull at times.
For example Rafael Nadal’s two grand slam wins, at the Australian and French Opens, and Novak Djokovic’s visa saga which saw him remarkably deported before the season opening grand slam are breezed past.
“The veteran Nadal was by far the star performer in the first half of 2022, winning two grand-slams, but the lack of any exclusive time with him forces producers to use soundbites from press conferences,” Fraser wrote.
“It is also disappointing that no fresh insight is provided on Djokovic’s ten-day visa saga in Australia, by far the biggest tennis news story of the year. As a result this is completely glossed over, with only a few minutes of bland coverage at the start of episode two.
“All in all it adds to the sense that this project is ultimately a sanitised public relations exercise. While this was a similar complaint heard in the early stages of ‘Drive to Survive’, there was enough fascinating footage to sustain the series and retain interest among the new audience.
“Unless the next batch of five episodes in June can do this, the opportunity of this particular Break Point has been well and truly missed.”
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Meanwhile The Guardian’s Xan Brooks suggests the series does achieve one major goal – making the top level of the sport resemble “a nightmare more than living the dream”.
“Failure and disaster is built into tennis’s DNA. Probably this is what accounts for its existential frisson. Ajla Tomljanović, the Australian world No 43, points out that each tournament is effectively a zero-sum game, a Darwinian free-for-all in which a field of 32 (or 64, or 128) hopefuls is quickly, industriously reduced to just one.
“She says: ‘If you’re not winning the event you’re a loser every week. That’s when I think tennis is really brutal. It keeps going, with or without you.’
“All of which makes for a bleak, bracing ride; a whirl of luxury hotels and locker rooms and brightly lit stadiums with absolutely nowhere to hide, he writes.
“The players follow the circus from Melbourne to Madrid, living out of suitcases and watching crap films on TV, like jaded tourists on an ill-starred cruise.”
