Exploring the Netflix curse, what lead to the big upset

Lily Wand ‘23

The filming of Breakpoint, a Netflix documentary about some of the world's best tennis players competing in various tournaments, may have set a curse on the players, resulting in their failure to meet expectations in the 2023 Australian Open.

The “Netflix curse” started at the beginning of the year when the new series Break Point was released days the Australian Open tennis tournament. But despite the high-level players featured in the show, their results in the tournament were uncharacteristically poor.

Break Point is the new Netflix docuseries that features 10 tennis players in their individual journey through different tournaments. It creates a strong sense of character for each player and develops them on and off the court. It was released on January 13th just days before the Australian Open, the first grand slam of the year.

The series comes from the same producers as Drive to Survive, the 2019 hit Formula 1 series. Break Point caters to any viewer with any level of tennis knowledge, adding easy-to-digest information about tennis rules and many different viewpoints as the series progresses.

Tennis is a fast-paced game with scoring that allows any player to take the lead at any point. Women play best 2 out of 3 sets, while the men play best 3 out of 5 sets, and men, women, and mixed doubles all play best 2 out of 3 sets. Every tournament plays in a classic bracket style with opportunities for qualifiers, seeded, and wild card players to be included in the draw.

Women play in the Women’s Tennis Association (W.T.A) and similarly the men play in the Association of Tennis Professionals (A.T.P).

There are different levels of tournament play, starting at the lowest of A.T.P/W.T.A 250, A.T.P/W.T.A 500, and A.T.P/W.T.A 1000 also known as masters. The highest level with the most points offered is the grand slam level and there are four spread out over the year. In chronological order the Australian Open, Roland Garros (French Open), Wimbledon, and the U.S Open.

There were 10 players featured in the show, but only seven played in the Australian Open, and none of them made it past the fourth round. This started the rumor of the “Netflix curse”.

Nick Kyrgios (27) and Thanasi Kokkinakis (26)

Starting off with the fan-favorite Aussie pair featured in the first episode, Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis. They were featured in the first episode as it followed their track to winning the Australian Open Men’s Doubles title in 2022. Their interaction with the crowd and fiery passion quickly gave them a platform and a springboard through the tournament.

Nick Kyrgios came into the tournament hot from last year when he was a Wimbledon Men’s Single Finalist, US Open quarter-finalist, and ranked 21st in the world. The hopes were high for his Australian Open appearance. However, Kygrios announced that he would have to withdraw due to a knee injury a couple of days before the tournament started.

The accompanying part of the infamous duo, Thanasi Kokkinakis entered the tournament with a singles rank of 159. Known mainly for his doubles ability, he was offered a wild card spot in the main draw of the Australian Open (A.O.). He lost in the second round to Andy Murray in a 5 set thriller.

Matteo Berrettini (26 years old) and Ajla Tomljanović (29 years old)

Ajla Tomljanović and Matteo Berretini were featured in the second episode and are also a notable romantic couple in tennis.

Tomljanović (ranked number 35 entering the tournament) withdrew from the 2023 A.O. due to a knee injury and announced she would also need 3-4 months to recover from the injury and surgery. Last year, she was a quarter-finalist in 2 grand slams and knocked Serena Williams out in her last-ever professional match.

Berretini was featured in the show for his skill on hard court and his impressive performance in the 2022 A.O. where he reached the semi-finals (he entered the tournament with a singles rank of 14). However, he was faced with a rough first-round matchup with Andy Murray who was ranked 70th in the world at the time but has always been a consistent competitor throughout his 18-year-long career. The first-round match went to a deciding fifth set where Andy Murray prevailed, knocking out Berrettini.

Taylor Fritz (25 years old) and Maria Sakkari (27 years old)

Episode 3 featured Taylor Fritz and Maria Sakkari, both promising players coming into 2023. Sakkari entered ranked 6th in the world for women's singles. But she was bested by Lin Zhu (ranked 41st) in the third round in three sets.

Taylor Fritz, the top-ranked American had a very successful 2022 season where he gained a career-high rank of 8th in the world and a masters title in Indian Wells. He was definitely a favorite in the tournament but lost in a tight five sets to the Australian wildcard Alexei Popyrin (ranked 91 in men's singles).

Paula Badosa (25 years old) and Ons Jabeur (28 years old)

Paula Badosa was another player that had to withdraw due to injury. She sustained a thigh injury during one of the lead-up tournaments to the A.O. forcing her to withdraw. Ons Jabeur was featured in the same episode as Badosa but was able to participate in the Grand Slam.
Jabeur is 28 but only really reached the peak of her career recently, last year she had impressive accomplishments including being a Wimbledon and US Open finalist and reaching a career-high rank of number 2 in the world. Similarly to many other players, Jabeur lost in the second round to Marketa Vondrousova (ranked 74th) in three sets, one of the biggest upsets on the women's side of the whole tournament

Casper Ruud (24 years old) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (22 years old)

Casper Ruud and Felix Auger-Aliassime are two younger players who have just found stronger footholds in the past couple of years. Ruud entered the tournament ranked 3rd in the world and was the second seed in the tournament. He had multiple promising runs in 2022 (Roland Garros, US Open, and Nitto ATP Finals finalist) however his A.O. tournament was cut short by Jenson Brooksby the young American ranked 43rd in the world.

Auger-Aliassime did the best of any of the featured players reaching the fourth round where he lost to Jiri Lehecka. Lehecka had an impressive run in the A.O. reaching the quarter-finals, the best results he has ever produced in a grand slam.

While both of these players produced very impressive results, Auger-Aliassime entered the tournament as the 6th seed and a very successful season in 2022, so one would expect him to be able to pull through in this match. He won his first ATP title of his career and won the Rotterdam ATP 500 tournament his highest achievement thus far.

This probably just seems like a coincidence but this is still very unrealistic to happen, however, tennis is a sport that is very familiar with upsets on any scale. This excitement can draw any kind of fan in.

The upset of one player is the triumph of another; so even though one can meddle in the loss of these athletes, the A.O. proved to be very successful for many other players. Aryna Sablenka won her first grand slam title and is at a career-high rank of number 2 in the world after triumphing over Elena Rybakina.

On the men’s side, the Americans did very well having eight players in the round of 3 (the most from any one country) and 3 in the quarter-finals. Tommy Paul made his first grand slam semi-final and Ben Shelton after his first trip out of the country made it to the quarter-finals.

Novak Djokovic won his 22nd grand slam title at the A.O. this year, showing that he is still such a dominant player after being a professional player for 20 years. He was able to reclaim the world's number-one spot at the age of 35.

However, Che Sufuentes, a Catlin Gabel School(CGS) senior, comments “In the state of tennis right now I’m more inclined to watch more than like 5 years ago, with all the new players.” With all the new-age players developing their skills, each tournament has become more competitive and exciting.

Ron Bronson, the CGS Girl’s tennis coach, reflects on why he thinks tennis is such a great sport for everyone, “A bunch of years ago, I heard Andre Agassi doing some guest commentating for the US Open and he said [paraphrased] "the great thing about tennis is you don't have to be the best player in the world to win a match. You just have to be better for like two hours. And there's a lot of different ways to do that."” Bronson not only alludes to the excitement of upsets but also the different skills that can be showcased in any given match.

Finally, both Bronson and Sufuentes didn’t really believe in the Netflix curse but could see some relation. Sufentes said when talking about filming a Netflix series “Maybe that got to their heads a bit and messed them up, cause they're obviously all really good.” Bronson similarly doesn't really believe in superstitious things like a curse but admits that sometimes it’s only natural to believe in these things “I did have a lucky hat I wore during our 2-year win-streak last year.”