More Break Point

I HAVE been enjoying “Break Point” on Netflix.

I remember watching this game where Jimmy Connors was really pumped up and raising his hands with the crowd going nuts and doing the wave. Since that moment, I have fallen in love with the sport (and played it only * recreationally).

I have followed it and have been to one live Grand Slam event (the 2003 US Open that featured Pete Sampras’ farewell).

Back to “Break Point,” as Nick Kyrgios said in the first few minutes of the first episode, “Let’s do a Netflix series and sh!$. Let’s get it, baby.”

It’s about time. If they do this on a yearly basis, it could do what “Drive to Survive” has done for Formula 1 racing— bring in a whole new audience and generation of fans.

I think tennis—like other sports—has great stories to tell. “Break Point” told a lot of them from Kyrgios to Matteo Berrettini, Taylor Fritz, Paula Badosa, Felix Augeraliassime and Casper Ruud.

And this 2023, it would be cool if they do a feature on Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka, who is now a Grand Slam champion (Australian Open). From exiting the Adelaide International in 2022 from an unheralded player to her fourth round exit in Australia and a year that saw her hit into 428 double faults—151 more than anyone else—she has turned her career around with this huge win.

Now, there is the question on whether she will be allowed to compete in Wimbledon (she was not last year owing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that had the help of Belarus).

There are even more sub-plots brewing.

Can Amanda Anisimova finally land a Grand Slam berth after coming close in 2019 and 2022? Can Carlos Alcaraz become the next big name in tennis? There’s Peng Shaui and that sexual assault thing or not. Will she even come back? And there’s the state of American tennis. With Serena close to retirement, who will carry the cudgels for American tennis and become a bonafide star—taylor Fritz of Coco Gauff? Or is it someone else?

And perhaps the biggest one is the one-upmanship between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in terms of Grand Slams won.

Pete Sampras won the last of his 14 Grand slams in 200 2. Roger Federer passed him in 2009 during Wimbledon and eventually finished with 20 by the time he retired in 2022. His last Grand Slam was the 2018 Australian Open.

Rafa Nadal went ahead of Federer four years later by claiming the 2022 Australian Open and he annexed his 22nd during the 2022 French Open.

Novak Djokovic claimed his 21st when he won the 2022 French Open. By the time this column will be out, either Djokovic had tied Nadal with the 2023 Australian Open crown or Stefanos Tsitsipas has claimed his first of professional tennis’ four major jewels.

What an unprecedented era of tennis dominance by three men—federer, Nadal and Djokovic—from 2010 up to today.

And it looks like Nadal could hang it up this 2023. We’ll see how his health holds up as he and Djokovic wage a personal battle for the record of the most Grand Slams.

I have too much on my plate to read and follow everything that goes on in tennis let alone all sports. “Break Point”is a perfect way to get into the back stories and the personal lives—or what they permit—to be divulged. And I think it is great.

I made the allegory to “Drive to Survive” and I have been a Formula 1 fan for several decades now. But “Drive to Survive” allowed me to get into the nitty gritty for many drivers and I have become an even bigger fan.

So more “Break Point,” Netflix. Don’t go breaking tennis fans’ hearts.