Emotion, displayed in the charged arena of professional tennis, is a real thing. But beyond those very visible highs and lows, it’s difficult to get a grip on just who the athletes are.
Cursory on-court interviews, and even the more detailed postmatch press conferences, don’t often reveal what’s happening behind the scenes. What is it that truly motivates these athletes, how are they really feeling as they attempt to carve out a career?
The Netflix series “Break Point” goes a long way toward pulling back the curtain and revealing the emotions churning just below the surface. Season 2 drops Wednesday and, whether you are a casual fan of a full-blown fanatic, it bears watching.
Six episodes, recounting the 2023 season, feature Hologic WTA Tour players Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Maria Sakkari, and to a lesser extent, Coco Gauff, Ons Jabeur, Marketa Vondrousova and Ajla Tomljanovic. They allowed Box to Box Films inside their complicated worlds -- including dynamic some interactions with their support teams -- and the results range from exhilarating to agonizing.
Jim Courier, a four-time major champion, has few peers as a tennis analyst.
“Having cameras follow you around is a big deal,” Courier says early in Episode 1. “There has to be a part of these players that wants to put on their best face and present well for everyone. But if you’re distracted, you may not perform at your best.”
At one point, in a car headed to the plying venue, Sabalenka turns to the cameraman in the back seat and says, “I just feel uncomfortable because you are filming me.”
And then, laughing, turns and snaps on her head phones.
This is the underlying tension driving the series. Courier’s astute observations inform 2023’s swirling narratives, often providing valuable context. Naomi Osaka, who missed the entire year on pregnancy leave, sat down for an interview and serves a similar purpose.
Here are some of the notable sights, sounds and insights regarding the three players we see most often:
Aryna Sabalenka
She serves as the spine of Season 2, beginning with the attempt to win her first major, at the Australian Open, and closing with her long-predicted ascension to the No.1 ranking.
Heading into Melbourne, Sabalenka had reached three major semifinals -- and lost them all, in three sets, to Karolina Pliskova, Leylah Fernandez and Iga Swiatek.
“I’m super close to my dream -- and that’s the problem,” she says in Episode 1 before play begins. I felt like I was close [in 2022], but I couldn’t handle this pressure.”
Courier: “I love Aryna Sabalenka. It’s fun to ride the roller coaster with Aryna. She lets you know exactly what she’s feeling on the court. She’s volcanic, all this power and raw athleticism. She’s had problems managing herself on the court.”
Walking on a picturesque beach Down Under, Sabalenka addresses that criticism, saying “I want to be a different person and a different player. Less emotions. But there’s no way you can predict anything. Every year, something unexpected happens.”
Jason Stacy, Sabalenka’s performance coach, explained the team’s new approach in 2023.
“Every chance we get, we just try to take a step back -- go offsite to practice, so we’re not near all the chaos,” he says. “And manage … all of these Instagram posts and TikTok bull----.
“Her goal is to win a Slam. She needs to learn how to turn that volume down -- and just focus. Aryna has this fear, this fear of losing everything. We’re working on breathing. Breath control is emotional control. Think more clearly, make better decisions.”
Sabalenka’s father is a prominent narrative thread. He was an ice hockey player in Belarus until a car accident cut short a promising career. He died in 2019, just as Sabalenka was breaking into the Top 10, but was often in her thoughts as she climbed the tennis ladder.
“He was aggressive, like me,” Sabalenka said. “A lot of expectations. He thought I would win [a Grand Slam] before 25. So this is the last chance.”
Sabalenka, who turned 25 in May, was a three-set winner over Elena Rybakina in the Australian Open final last January.
After the trophy ceremony, lying on a towel, an emotional Sabalenka speaks with her mother, Yulia, on the phone.
Aryna: “Mom, don’t cry. I’m already starting to cry.”
Yulia: “My baby, my sunshine. Your dad would be proud.”
Aryna: “Mom, don’t start talking about dad, damn it.”
Later, after a champagne and pizza celebration with her team, Sabalenka said, “I really wanted to call him and see what he would say. Right now, his surname is on that trophy, which means a lot.”
Jessica Pegula
At the age of 29, Pegula finished as a Top 5 player for the second straight year, but she is also known as the daughter of Kim and Terry Pegula, owners of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL.
“My dad wasn’t born with a lot of money,” Pegula said. “My mom was left on a doorstep and adopted from South Korea. I guess it was kind of the American Dream.
“Some people get this image that it’s really easy for me, because my dad’s very wealthy, but that didn’t happen until I was 17 or 18. I was a later bloomer -- definitely a late bloomer.”
Pegula, as articulate and intelligent as anyone on tour, is seen at her home in South Florida with husband Taylor Gahagen, wiping dogs coming out of the pool -- with a Wimbledon towel.
She received a scare in June 2022, when her mother was hospitalized in Florida after going into cardiac arrest. Subsequently, Jessica has said that her mother was recovering from a “brain injury” and suffered “significant memory issues.”
In a Netflix interview, Pegula says of her mother, “She’s a great fighter. I always feel like this is her biggest thing she taught me. If she’s home, fighting through what she went through, I can deal with going to play a tennis tournament.”
At last year’s Wimbledon, it wasn’t easy. Pegula advanced to a major quarterfinal for the sixth time and was on the threshold of a personal best against Marketa Vondrousova when rain came into the forecast.
“The momentum is with Jess,” said her coach David Witt, sitting in the Centre Court player box. “I’d rather they not close the roof.”
But they did. Pegula led the third set 3-1 when play was delayed. She came back to lead 4-1 and had a break point for 5-1 -- but her routine backhand skittered long. Vondrousova won the last five games and went onto the title. Pegula was 0-6 in Grand Slam quarters.
In some ways, Pegula’s career trajectory has traced a similar curve to the family’s Buffalo Bills. In their glory days, 1990-93, the team made the playoffs and advanced to the Super Bowl -- only to lose them all.
The Bills haven’t been back since, but have now made the playoffs five years in a row; they host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Netflix was with Pegula when she visited the team before the season began. She caught up with quarterback Josh Allen and chatted with head coach Sean McDermott. She also addressed the entire team.
“I want to win a Grand Slam,” she tells them. “You want to win a Super Bowl. Trying to be great is hard. If it was easy, everybody would do it.”
Maria Sakkari
The coach-player relationship, built on trust and honesty, can sometimes be difficult -- for those very reasons. This, Tom Hill knows, because he and Sakkari have been working together for more than four years.
With Sakkari preparing for her third-round match with Zhu Lin at the Australian Open, Hill tells her he’s going to have her hitting partner to crank up the speed because Zhu “has a very good forehand.”
Sakkari, irritated, says, “Tom, stop it. I’m going to get angry. I’m playing Serena 2.0? Every player I play against [at this level] is a great player. You can’t trick me out before the match.”
Hill counters quietly, “How would you like me to say it?”
Sakkari, the No.6 seed, lost to Zhu in three sets. After reaching the semifinals at Roland Garros and the US Open in 2021, Sakkari struggled in the majors in 2022. This was her fifth straight Grand Slam without reaching the quarterfinals.
Osaka, a four-time major champion, said: “Maria Sakkari and Jessica Pegula have been consistently reaching for that one trophy. But the longer that goes on, you put so much pressure on yourself, that you kind of put it in this unattainable realm.
“You go into it thinking, `This is my last chance to make a mark.’ ”
At Roland Garros, Sakkari lost to Karolina Muchova in the first round and later, at Wimbledon, lost her first match to Marta Kostyuk -- after winning the first set 6-0.
Afterward, talking with Hill, she says, “I’ve reached my ceiling. I just can’t play any more. I’m not delusional. I’ve lost my way again -- that’s how I feel.
“Maybe I should quit.”
As she’s saying this, harsh social media comments are superimposed on the screen. Sample: “It’s been 1,603 days since Maria Sakkari won a WTA title.”
“The golden rule of tennis is to never look at Twitter or Instagram during a tournament,” Osaka said. “And don’t look at it after a tournament, either.”
Later, at a meal with her family, Sakkari says, “I know that I don’t deserve social media and hate messages. I’m not going to waste my time thinking about it.
“By the end of my career I don’t want to go down as just someone who has been a very good player -- but has won only one title. So I need that winning feeling once again.”
And in September it came in Guadalajara, where Sakkari won her second career title.
“As a coach, I was very happy for her,” Hill said.
Sakkari has the last word of Episode 2.
“In Mexico, everything changed for me,” she said. “I found myself again.”
