Tennis’ governing bodies are hoping that the launch of a new tennis docuseries at the start of 2023 will help generate a surge of interest in the sport but not all players are as enthusiastic.
Break Point, which is produced by the same people behind the highly successful F1: Drive To Survive series, will be launched on January 13th on Netflix. The programme follows the lives of a group of players both on and off the court during the 2022 season. Five episodes will air in January followed by another five in June. Each episode focuses on a specific tournament and a select group of players. Nick Kyrgios, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Iga Swiatek are some of those involved.
However, world No.27 Dan Evans said he will not be watching the show which he claims is ‘all acted.’ One jibe he made was towards Tsitsipas and his father Apostolos who also coaches the Greek star.
“You could have handpicked who they were going to choose,” The Times newspaper quoted Evans as saying.
“It is so predictable. You want to hear what Rafa [Nadal] has got to say when he had to pull out of Wimbledon. We’ll have to listen to Tsitsipas and a tennis dad. There’s always going to be a tennis dad in there, isn’t there? It’s not for me. It’s all acted, you can see it. Come on.”
The sport is hoping Break Point will be able to emulate in some way the success Drive To Survive has had for F1. According to a report published by Nielsen Sports in March 2021, the show played a key part in the sport’s growing popularity among younger fans. 77% of F1’s annual growth was driven by those aged 16-35.
Evans is a player who is not afraid of speaking his mind about topics. Prior to his comments about Netflix, the British No.2 had previously said he is considering quitting the Davis Cup team due to what he viewed as an ‘insulating’ omission from a doubles match earlier this year.
Evans is playing in this week’s Battle Of The Brits event in Aberdeen where he has reiterated his criticism of the decision made by team captain Leon Smith. Smith has been in charge of the British Davis Cup team since 2010 and is also the Head of Men’s Tennis at the LTA.
“We are good at discussing things when we win but nobody wants to talk about it when we lose,” Evans told reporters earlier this week. “The normal LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) response is we will take it on board and review it.
“I just didn’t think it played out as it should, to the best of our possibilities, and some of that is on the captain. I think it’s only fair the captain gets some criticism.
“I don’t think I did anything too wrong, Leon is big enough and old enough to take it. He gets paid well enough, don’t worry about that. He messaged me but I made it clear that I wanted to have a conversation, and that hasn’t happened yet.
“Tennis is business and you can disagree like you do in any area of normal life, I don’t think it’s that big a deal. I’m not against Leon and don’t want to fall out with him, he has done very well as Davis Cup captain, I just made it clear I thought he had got it wrong.”
Evans has won one ATP singles title so far in his career which was at the 2021 Murray River Open in Melbourne, Australia.
