Break Point review: Does Netflix’s backstage tennis documentary live up to the hype?

It is the documentary that has the sporting world talking. But can it match the heights of Drive To Survive? We review the first five episodes.

Nick Kyrgios is the star of the first episode. Picture: AFP Images

Wherever Nick Kyrgios has travelled over the past year, the Netflix cameras have followed closely.

Coming across the Australian backstage at tournaments in 2022 often involved a quick sidestep to avoid being trampled by a large group of production staff dashing along behind him as if he were the Pied Piper.

The results of which will finally be revealed to the wider public on Friday as the streaming giant’s new tennis documentary, unoriginally entitled Break Point, is released.

The hope among the sport’s various governing bodies, who all showed a rare moment of unity last year by jointly agreeing to give Netflix access to all areas, is that it mirrors the boon that Formula One experienced through Drive to Survive.

With that in mind, I must acknowledge that a middle-aged tennis correspondent, who follows the sport and its goings-on closely, is not part of the target market for this.

The ultimate aim of this sporting reality show is to attract new fans of a young demographic, as is evident when the scoring system is explained early on.

Nick Kyrgios is the star of the first episode. Picture: Getty Images

However, as someone who is well aware of the intriguing storylines and dramas both on and off the court, I cannot help but feel that the first half of the series – five episodes will be released this week, followed by another five in June – falls short of giving the viewer the captivating insight that was initially promised.

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.

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.

“The first four or five years of my career was just so chaotic,” Kyrgios explains to Hatzi as the pair sit together on a couch with the cameras conveniently filming.

“When Horse [Daniel Horsfall, his manager] was on tour with me, when it was basically just him looking after me, he could just see my wellbeing just declining every week. My life was spiralling out of control, drinking every single night. I was like, ‘I can’t keep doing this. I have to be kinder to myself.’”

Kyrgios opens up on his state of mind in the documentary. Picture: AFP Images

Amusingly, Horsfall then admits he used a tracking device to keep an eye on his client’s whereabouts.

“I used to have your location on my phone,” Horsfall tells Kyrgios.

“On some mornings, I would physically have to go and find where you were. What hotel you were staying at, whose house you were staying at. Before tournaments, before a match.”

There is also a rare interview with Kyrgios’s mother, Norlaila, with the accompanying clip of a collection of broken rackets that her son has smashed in anger.

“I worry about him every day,” she says. “Because he’s been through some really horrid times.”

Kyrgios adds: “In the heat of the battle, I’m two different people. Sometimes I do cross the line. That’s just my passion, that’s just my emotion. Millions of people watching you and you’re not playing your best. Would you not be frustrated and angry? I have to let it out, out there.”

The trouble with using a curious character like Kyrgios first up is that it is clearly challenging to match a similar level of entertainment in subsequent episodes. From here the series enters a muddled lull, lacking an engaging narrative to keep the viewer interested.

Episode two revolves around the relationship between Matteo Berrettini and Ajla Tomljanovic as they compete in Australia. However, the fact that they split up shortly afterwards is not revealed to the viewer, giving the sense of a cover-up.

After episodes three (Taylor Fritz and Maria Sakkari in Indian Wells) and four (Ons Jabeur and Paula Badosa in Madrid), the series thankfully picks up the pace, with episode five based on the challenge for Felix Auger-Aliassime and Casper Ruud in facing the “King of Clay” Rafael Nadal at the French Open.

A behind the scenes shot of Ajla Tomljanovic reacting to her Australian Open defeat. Picture: Netflix

The bizarre scenario of Auger-Aliassime’s coach, Toni Nadal, going up against his nephew is the most fascinating storyline covered, featuring footage of the awkward moment when Toni and Rafael bump into each other backstage before the match.

Creators admirably tried to get round the lack of substantial involvement from the likes of Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams by billing this series as a transitional look at a “new generation of tennis stars rising quickly to take over”.

The problem is that they haven’t. 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.

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.

This article originally appeared on The Times.