From the producers of "Break Point" to a longtime analyst who featured in some of the episodes, here's an inside look into the taping of the show:

Behind the scenes: The making of the Netflix series 'Break Point'

Growing up in Britain, there were moments -- fleeting, to be fair -- when James Gay-Rees actually felt a degree of competence on the tennis court.

“The serve’s going in, everything is working and sometimes you would find a bit of form and think, `I can kind of play this game,’” the award-winning producer recently said from London.

He regularly watched the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage and even found his way to Queens Club a few times. Still, it wasn’t until last year -- when he spent most of it chronicling professional tennis for the upcoming Netflix series “Break Point” that he truly began to appreciate the degree of difficulty the job required.

“To basically unpack what it means to go from my crappy level to being an elite tennis player -- the journey those players go on and the commitment it requires to stay there was, frankly, a revelation,” Gay-Rees said recently. “The optics around Wimbledon are that it’s nice, cultured, polite -- but obviously tennis is a much tougher sport than that.

“It’s not an easy option to be a professional tennis player. And so to shine a light on that truth and to explain why that’s the case was really the big opportunity.”

The first five episodes of “Break Point” become available Jan. 13 on Netflix. The series features players from both the Hologic WTA Tour and ATP Tour with an emphasis on the Grand Slams. Paula Badosa, Ons Jabeur, Ajla Tomljanovic, Aryna Sabalenka and Maria Sakkari will play prominent roles on the women’s side. READ MORE

'Break Point': A closer look at the human side of tennis players

Paul Annacone was a terrific player, with a career-high No.12 singles ranking and 14 doubles titles, including the 1985 Australian Open. He went on to coach Pete Sampras, who won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, and Roger Federer, who broke that record and finished with 20. He’s an astute analyst for Tennis Channel, offering cerebral, nuanced commentary -- and, along with Michael Russell, helps coach rising American Taylor Fritz.

He also provided perspective for the Netflix series “Break Point,” which drops Friday. Annacone, gearing up for the Australian Open, found a few minutes to chat about the experience. READ MORE