Will Netflix’s portrayal of life on the tours be embraced, and potentially open doors for new opportunities?

The countdown to the 2023 season is underway. As we close in on the start of the new, dual-gender United Cup (December 29), TENNIS.com's writers will debate the 10 biggest questions heading into the new tennis year.

Will Netflix’s portrayal of life on the tours be embraced, and potentially open doors for new opportunities?

David Kane: The one thing tennis fans love most about the tours, more than the prestige or the playing styles, is the personalities, and the oncoming Netflix docuseries aims to deliver just that.

Netflix has already brought viewers closer than ever to F1, exploding the popularity of a sport that features drivers obstructed by helmets and cars. Beyond the sport's more arcane rules and rituals, tennis players themselves face no similar barriers to entry: their personalities are made apparent every second of a match, from their styles to how they engage the crowd. The team tasked with documenting the 2022 season has gotten access to some of the most interesting personalities the ATP and WTA tours have to offer, giving prospective viewers plenty to root for—and hopefully follow into a second season.

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Steve Tignor: It’s hard to see how it won’t; this is the type of big, inside-look, human-interest production normally reserved for the NFL. Taylor Fritz, one of the film’s central figures, is a leading man type, and should be a sympathetic character. Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas will add some controversial spice in their own, very different ways. And, unlike almost every other sports documentary, this one will feature women players, too, living and competing the way the men live and compete. Tennis’ far-flung, international nature makes it tough for the media to cover it in its entirety, especially behind the scenes. Netflix should be able to do the sport’s backstage dramas justice in a way they’ve rarely been done in the past.

Stephanie Livaudais: Knowing the player personalities that will be involved, I’m sure that the Netflix series will be embraced—but the more interesting question is, by whom? And is the sport ready to serve the new breed of tennis fan that it could create?

Netflix’s Formula 1 mega-hit Drive To Survive has served as the blueprint, having succeeded in bringing the sport a wave of new fans—ones who went from zero to following drivers and teams on social media, and occasionally tuning into or attending races.

Longtime F1 fans, however, have the most criticism for the series. The type of fan that would know that producers have (allegedly) used team radio audio from one race over footage from another in order to heighten drama, views DTS differently from the casual ‘Netflix fan’.

So while Netflix’s portrayal might not resonate with the most plugged-in tennis followers, the sport’s ability to connect with this newer, younger audience—ones that never have watched a match before—could be the barometer for the series’ success.

Matt Fitzgerald: Netflix has already demonstrated an aptitude to deliver a compelling, intimate sports docuseries. If it strikes the same chord with Break Point, it’s hard to imagine it not being embraced. While insiders or diehard tennis fans could be hard to win over, those who feel closest to the sport are hardly the target audience.

Converting untapped viewers into weekly followers is surely the unified goal among the WTA, ATP and Grand Slam events that helped deliver unfiltered access—for bringing in new blood benefits everybody involved in the bigger picture. Let’s also not forget that with its January 13 release date, the locker rooms in Melbourne will play a crucial role of where we go from here.