Netflix’s tennis docuseries coming to a small screen soon as ATP boss confirms release date
Netflix’s tennis documentary series will finally hit televisions, laptops and other streaming devices in early 2023, according to ATP President Andrea Gaudenzi.
In a joint statement with the ATP and WTA, and the four Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, Australian Open), Netflix announced in January this year that it is to “serve up a documentary series following men’s and women’s pro tennis players throughout the ATP and WTA Tours and the Grand Slam tournaments”.
It added: “The series will offer an unfiltered look at life inside the competitive sport of professional tennis through the perspective of the players and their teams, in the same spirit as Formula 1: Drive to Survive and the recently announced project featuring golf’s PGA Tour.
“The series will also be the first sports program of its kind to provide an equal platform to the men’s and women’s competitors of the sport, in keeping with the equal stage they share throughout the year.”
Very little detail has been released about the behind-the-scenes series since then and the title remains unknown, but Gaudenzi has now confirmed that it will hit the small screens in “early January”.
He told Ouest-France in an interview: “The public wants to know a lot about what is happening behind the scenes, about the lives of the players.
“We can’t fight with these platforms anymore, we have to be on them to be able to tell different stories. The series is expected in early January, before the Australian Open.”
He added: “Fans will love this documentary series.”
It had already previously been revealed that Nick Kyrgios’ run to the Wimbledon final will be a part of the series while the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Iga Swiatek will also feature.
“I’m very privileged to be in it. I’ve watched Drive to Survive. I instantly became a huge fan of F1. I’m extremely happy they’re bringing this to tennis and making something similar in that sense,” Tsitsipas said at the start of the year.
And the docuseries could just be the start of a new long-term partnership between Netflix and tennis as the streaming giant is reportedly considering bidding for the live broadcasting rights for both the ATP and WTA Tours.
The company had previously stated that it would not bid on sporting rights as it considered it to be too expensive.