"In the US especially that's what we need": Fritz sees Netflix Break Point as perfect tool to grow tennis further after appearing in Season One

Thursday, 09 March 2023 at 02:30

Taylor Fritz and Maria Sakkari, trailed by a black-clad Netflix camera crew, were greeted by warm applause when they ascended to the outdoor stage on the grounds of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Tuesday. The stars of Break Point Episode 3 arrived just hours after Netflix announced there would be a second season.

Those ubiquitous workers are all over the grounds at ‘Tennis Paradise’, capturing behind-the-scenes moments for episodes that will be seen next year.

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“We’re really excited,” Paul Martin, executive producer of Box to Box Films, told the crowd earlier. “Excited to get to play in this space for another year. Hopefully, it continues for 10 more seasons.”

Fritz, whose dramatic drive to the title in his local tournament — he beat Rafael Nadal in the final on a seriously compromised ankle — was the episode’s dominant thread, agreed.

“It’s good to see that because those are people who aren’t tennis fans,” Fritz said. “In the U.S. especially, that’s what we need. So whenever there’s someone saying, `Oh, I saw you on Break Point,’ I see that as someone maybe potentially who might watch tennis as a fan. What it’s been doing for the sport is great. Hopefully that continues.”

The first five episodes of the series were released in advance of the Australian Open, and episodes 6-10, covering the second half of the 2022 season, will drop in June. The early returns were encouraging. Break Point reached the Top 10 in 28 countries, engaging an audience of more than 15 million, with Australia and the United Kingdom at the top of the list.

While it didn’t reach the Top 10 in the United States, given its large population, it generated the largest number of new fans. The featured players experienced a significant bounce in their social media numbers.

“Tennis, being on tour, there’s a really great story to be told,” said Fritz, whose No. 5 ATP Ranking is the highest for an American man since Andy Roddick in 2009. “Because what we do is pretty crazy and a lot of people don’t really know the behind-the-scenes, the traveling, the competing and everything that goes on. I’m glad the reception’s been great.”

Arthur Ajayi

Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.

As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.

With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.

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