Nick Kyrgios is among the many gamers to open up within the new Netflix sequence
It is being billed as tennis’ Drive to Survive – the F1 documentary sequence that took die-hard followers and newcomers behind the scenes of the largest moments with (a few of) the largest names.
The primary 5 episodes of Break Pointexternal-link have dropped on Netflix – displaying us, as top-10 participant Taylor Fritz places it, “how tough being a tennis participant truly is”.
“You lose each single week,” says the American. “It’s important to be a really assured particular person to maintain coming again.”
Fritz is among the many essential stars of the sequence, which additionally options Nick Kyrgios opening up about ingesting issues in his early 20s, and Ons Jabeur discussing the dilemmas feminine gamers face after they need to begin a household.
Producer James Homosexual-Rees advised BBC Sport the sequence captured a number of the loneliness of life as a participant on tour.
“You are very often travelling alone, staying in inns by your self, taking part in alone,” he mentioned.
“Just one particular person wins a match. There are temporary moments of pleasure amidst oceans of remorse and loss.”
World quantity six Maria Sakkari mentioned: “We do not have a standard way of life – that is a reality.
“It is a nice alternative for individuals who do not know tennis from the within to actually see the struggles.”
‘My life was simply sort of spiralling uncontrolled’Kyrgios is likely one of the most talked-about gamers in tennis
Within the first episode of Break Level, we get an in depth have a look at Kyrgios – the sport’s most mercurial star.
It’s nearly 9 years since a teenage Kyrgios shocked the world by beating world primary Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon.
Now 27 and the world quantity 21, Kyrgios says that match modified “the whole lot” for him.
“From that day forth, the expectation on me to be the following huge factor was large,” he recollects.
Regardless of his early promise and plain expertise, Kyrgios is but to win a significant singles title, and his occasional outbursts on and off court docket have been accompanied by numerous unhealthy press.
Within the sequence, he describes falling into unhealthy habits throughout his early 20s.
“For 4, 5 years of my profession, it was simply so chaotic,” the Australian says. “My life was simply sort of spiralling uncontrolled – ingesting each single night time.”
Kyrgios’ supervisor and confidante Daniel Horsfall remembers monitoring Kyrgios’ location on his cellphone.
“Some mornings, I must bodily go and discover the place you have been – what resort you have been at, whose home you have been staying at – earlier than tournaments, earlier than a match,” he says.
And Kyrgios could be very open about how he has to handle his relationship with tennis.
“For my psychological well being, I may by no means be a kind of gamers that performs all yr spherical once more,” he says.
‘I could not sleep for 3 days’Sakkari opens up on her struggles with coping with defeats
Sakkari’s irritating 2021 can be documented within the sequence.
The 27-year-old from Greece performed in eight semi-finals that yr, and didn’t advance from any of them.
“I used to be simply struggling as a result of I may see the end line after which I would not win the match,” she says in episode three.
“My thoughts would go to this point in a match after which I simply could not shut it out. I used to be too excited. I used to be almost there, however not there on the similar time.”
In all probability essentially the most painful of Sakkari’s semi-final defeats was a French Open loss to Barbora Krejcikova from match level.
“I simply did not know how you can deal with that scenario,” she says.
“I could not sleep for 3 days. I used to be simply mendacity in mattress, attempting to sleep, however I used to be so nervous and so unhappy. It was powerful for me to deal with. I advised my coaches that I needed to retire.”
Sakkari was again simply 4 days later and by March 2022 she was third on the earth rankings.
She advised BBC Sport she has needed to be taught to simply accept losses.
“I do know that I am unable to win each single week – there are only a few gamers who’ve truly executed that,” she mentioned.
“I do know I am attempting my greatest on the court docket and that, in the mean time, I am among the finest gamers on the earth. I preserve reminding myself of that.”
‘Girls do numerous sacrifices’Ons Jabeur has made waves for African and Arab tennis
Jabeur, from Tunisia, is second within the ladies’s standings, and the highest-ranked African and Arab participant in historical past.
In episode 4, she talks about defying expectations as an Arab girl.
“I all the time believed I could possibly be an expert tennis participant, however a tennis participant coming from Tunisia – that was a distinct factor,” she says.
“Individuals thought that I’d be quitting tennis, that I’d be changing into a housewife, however I all the time believed in my dream.”
5-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova praises Jabeur’s achievements.
“To come back from nowhere, with no useful resource and to get previous all of the obstacles – what meaning for her nation, for herself, for her household… it is unimaginable,” she says.
Jabeur, 28, has ambitions to win a significant title – and final yr reached the ultimate of each Wimbledon and the US Open.
However she would additionally like to start out a household.
Solely three ladies have gained a singles Grand Slam title after giving beginning – Margaret Court docket, Evonne Goolagong and Kim Clijsters.
And Jabeur is all too conscious of the pressures ladies face in tennis.
“Girls do numerous sacrifices,” she says. “If you wish to have a toddler, you can not simply go and have a toddler, it’s important to sacrifice perhaps one thing you’re keen on – household – for a profession.
“I want I used to be a person, you already know – ‘I need to have a child – executed’.”
4. ‘It was clear to me if I needed to play Rafa, he would not need me to win’Felix Auger-Aliassime is tipped to be a future Grand Slam winner
Felix Auger-Aliassime is a rising star within the tennis world – the 22-year-old Canadian is ranked seventh on the earth.
In 2021, he added Toni Nadal to his teaching group. Nadal is the uncle of the legendary Rafael, and coached him from the age of three till 2017. In that point, Rafael gained 16 main titles.
In Might final yr, Auger-Aliassime misplaced to Rafael on the French Open.
Previous to that match, Toni triggered some controversy by stating he needed his nephew to win. Auger-Aliassime says within the sequence he views that as par for the course.
“It was very clear to me as soon as we began working collectively that if I needed to play Rafa, he would not need me to win essentially – like, he would not need me to beat his nephew,” he says.
Auger-Aliassime’s agent Bernard Duchesneau says: “We respect the actual fact it is household. He does not need to put himself in a battle of curiosity. It is all good. For us, it was understood.”
‘If I pulled out, I would be fascinated with it endlessly’We get a glimpse of Fritz’s profitable mentality in episode three
Fritz had a powerful yr in 2022.
The 25-year-old California native beat Nadal to win the Indian Wells Masters and climbed to a career-high world rating of eighth.
In Break Level, Fritz’s coach Paul Annacone – who beforehand coached legends Pete Sampras and Roger Federer – describes Fritz as “one of many hardest, most strong-willed gamers I’ve ever been round”.
And we get an excellent illustration of Fritz’s mentality in episode three.
Fritz injures his ankle throughout his Indian Wells semi-final towards Andrey Rublev, placing his look within the remaining in jeopardy.
He’s advised by Dr Patrick St Pierre he might have “just a little fracture”.
“You may trigger extra hurt than good,” he’s advised. “It is actually arduous for me to imagine that numbing it up is the correct factor.”
Regardless of that steerage from Dr St Pierre and his teaching group, Fritz stubbornly refuses to overlook the ultimate.
“I’ve skilled my entire life for this second,” he says. “If I pulled out, I would be fascinated with it endlessly.”
There are not any such regrets as Fritz beats Nadal to change into the primary American to win at Indian Wells since Andre Agassi in 2001.