Get to Know the 10 Tennis Players Spotlighted in Netflix's Break Point
Netflix's Break Point is here, and with it, the hopes of the tennis world to bring the sport to a brand new audience.
"It's gonna be hopefully huge for tennis in the U.S., and give people a look at what our lives are like." Fritz told T&C last summer. Netflix, Fritz said, "did amazing things for F1. So, I'm really hopeful that this is gonna get a lot of people into tennis." (The creators of Break Point also made Formula 1: Drive to Survive, which took viewers behind the scenes of the Formula One World Championship.)
With the retirement of Serena Williams and Roger Federer in 2022, a new generation of players (including many Americans) are looking to take the titles. This includes current world number ones Iga Świątek, a Polish 21-year-old, and Spanish teen phenom Carlos Alcaraz, in addition to a group of players who are hovering around the upper echelons of the sport—many of whom feature in Break Point.
Picking which players to feature in Break Point was a challenge because there are just so many to choose from, according to executive producer James Gay-Rees. "We had a long list and then whittled it down and down and down," he tells Town & Country. "We went to Australia, sat down with a bunch of players—and you work out who you're meant to be with. 'Cause you can't force somebody to do what they don't want to do."
Soon, the Break Point team became invested in cheering on the players they were following. "When you're making films you always think, okay, I have to be neutral, I have to think about how to tell the story the best we possibly can," showrunner Kari Lia tells T&C. "But that went out the window quite quickly, because you can't help but fall in love with the people we're filming with—and really care about them, because you see how hard they worked, and what they've done to get to that point."
In order of appearance-ish, get to know the 10 players spotlighted in the first half of Break Point—that viewers, too, will fall in love with. (The second half, featuring five more episodes centered on Wimbledon and the US Open could introduce even more players—including T&C favorite Frances Tiafoe—drops in June 2023.)
Nick Kyrgios
Age: 27
Country: Australia
Current ranking: 21
2022 season highlights: He won the Australian Open doubles tournament, and made it to the finals of Wimbledon and the quarterfinals of the US Open.
Fun fact: He's a huge basketball fan, and often wears basketball jerseys during his warm up. "I don’t really like the sport of tennis that much. I don’t love it. It was crazy when I was 14. I was all for basketball and I made the decision to play tennis. I got pushed by my parents and to this day I can still say I don’t love the sport," he shared a few years ago.
Instagram: @k1ngkyrg1os
Thanasi Kokkinakis
Age: 26
Country: Australia
Current ranking: 110
2022 season highlights: He won the Australian Open doubles with Kyrgios, and he won his first-ever ATP singles title in Adelaide.
Fun fact: He has Greek heritage; both his parents were born in Greece, so he also holds Greek citizenship.
Instagram: @the_kokk1
Matteo Berrettini
Age: 26
Country: Italy
Current ranking: 14
2022 season highlights: He reached a career-high ranking of no. 6, and made it to the Australian Open semifinals and US Open quarterfinals. He unfortunately had to withdraw from Wimbledon due to a positive COVID test right before the tournament.
Fun fact: As the show details, he dated fellow tennis player Ajla Tomljanović from 2019 to 2022.
Instagram: @matberrettini
Ajla Tomljanović
Age: 29
Country: Australia (as of 2014; before, she played for her birth country, Croatia)
Current ranking: 35
2022 season highlights: She reached a career-high ranking of 33, and made the quarterfinals at the US Open for the first time—en route, defeating Serena Williams in Williams's last professional match.
Fun fact: Her friend and mentor is Chris Evert, the former American world no. 1 player.
Instagram: @ajlatom
Taylor Fritz
Age: 25
Country: USA
Current ranking: 9
2022 season highlights: He reached a career-high ranking of world no. 8. He won two ATP titles: defeating Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells, and defeating American Frances Tiafoe in Tokyo. He also made it to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam (Wimbledon) for the first time.
Read Town & Country's interview with Fritz
Fun fact: He's a dad. He shares his son, Jordan, with his ex-wife, Raquel Pedraza.
Instagram: @taylor_fritz
Maria Sakkari
Age: 27
Country: Greece
Current ranking: 6
2022 season highlights: She made it to the finals of Indian Wells, and the semifinals of the WTA Finals.
Read Town & Country's interview with Maria Sakkari
Fun fact: She comes from a family of professional tennis players. Her mom, Angelikí Kanellopoúlou, and her grandfather, Dimítrios Kanellopoúlos, both played. "At the age I fell in love with tennis, I was too young to understand what my mum was," Sakkari shared. "She has a big name back at home in the tennis community. Once I realised she was a very good player, it wasn’t easy to handle. Everyone expects you to win because your mom was very good. At the same time, I just found a way to block it out and play my tennis, but always having her by my side."
Instagram: @mariasakkari
Paula Badosa
Age: 25
Country: Spain
Current ranking: 11
2022 season highlights: She reached a career-high ranking of world no. 2, and made it to the round of 16 at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Fun fact: She's a global citizen. She was born in New York City, often trains in Barcelona (near her hometown Begur, Costa Brava), and currently lives in Dubai.
Instagram: @paulabadosa
Ons Jabeur
Age: 28
Country: Tunisia
Current ranking: 2
2022 season highlights: She made it to the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open, becoming the first Arab player (male or female) and first Muslim player (male or female) to reach a Grand Slam final. She also won the Madrid Open, the first Arab woman to ever win a WTA 1000 event. She also reached a career-high ranking of world no. 2.
Fun fact: She has an all-Tunisian team; her coach is Issam Jellali, a former player, and her fitness trainer is her husband, Karim Kammoun.
Instagram: @onsjabeur
Félix Auger-Aliassime
Age: 22
Country: Canada
Current ranking: 7
2022 season highlights: He won four ATP titles (in Basel, Antwerp, Florence, and Rotterdam), and made it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.
Fun fact: According to the ATP, he donates $5 for every point that he wins to EduChange, partnering with CARE to support protection and education of children in Togo.
Instagram: @felixaliassime
Casper Ruud
Age: 24
Country: Norway
Current ranking: 3
2022 season highlights: He reached a career-high ranking of world no. 2, making it to the finals of the French Open (where he lost to Rafael Nadal), the US Open (lost to Carlos Alcaraz), and the ATP Finals (lost to to Novak Djokovic).
Fun fact: He's a big golfer, and has an Instagram exclusively dedicated to #golf content (@casper_golfer).
Instagram: @casperruud
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