Tennis Follows PGA TOUR With Netflix Documentary Series In The Works For ATP And WTA Tours, Plus Grand Slam Tournaments
January 17, 2022
For the first time, fans will be able to share in a year in the life of some of the world’s best tennis players as they journey around the world, seeking to win on the sport’s biggest stages.
To bring this unique immersive documentary series to the screen, Netflix has teamed up with the four Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP Tour, WTA Tour, and ATP Media beginning with the 2022 season at the Australian Open.
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.
Through a historic collaboration that will take cameras behind the scenes of the two tours, the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, 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.
“We are excited to continue bolstering our lineup of sports programming with this behind-the-scenes documentary series,” said Brandon Riegg, Netflix Vice President of Unscripted and Documentary Series. “Tennis is beloved all over the world, with high-stakes tournaments hopping across continents and athletes hailing from countless countries. Through this historic partnership with the four Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP Tour, WTA Tour, and ATP Media, the series will be packed with rare access and rich personal stories that are sure to draw in longtime fans and new audiences alike.”
The series is produced by Box to Box Films (Formula 1: Drive to Survive) with James Gay Rees and Paul Martin as serving as Executive Producers. Filming is underway now at the Australian Open.
iSportConnect: After the announcement earlier this month that the makers of Netflix’s Drive To Survive series were taking their model to golf, tennis has clearly become another sport looking to benefit from an influx in fans from the streaming service’s giant audience. But will both of these series have the same draw as Drive To Survive?