(Paris) Just like Drive to Survive managed to revitalize Formula 1, the documentary series break point brings a breath of fresh air to world tennis, by betting on an immersive and fashionable format.

A page in the history of the little yellow ball turned in 2022, when Roger Federer and Serena Williams hung up their rackets. Neither will Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic be forever and, with them, their fans are aging.

On the sidelines of the Australian Open, Netflix launched in mid-January break pointwhich bets on immersion alongside promising players to continue to arouse the appetite of sponsors and broadcasters, and open tennis to a new audience.

“It is now necessary to provide more content on what is happening behind the scenes and outside” to “enrich the experience of fans”, explained in July the president of the ATP, Andrea Gaudenzi, during a cross interview with his Formula 1 counterpart, Stefano Domenicali.

The docuseries format has proven to be a good bet for F1, with the launch of Drive to Survive in 2019. Closer to the drivers, in their daily lives or in the race, this production has been so successful that a fifth season will be released at the end of February on Netflix.

” Human being ”

The phenomenon has benefited TV audiences. In the United States, one of F1’s priority markets since the Liberty Media group acquired the commercial rights to F1 in 2017, an all-time high was set in 2022: the season averaged 1.2 million viewers per race, 28% more than in 2021, according to figures from broadcaster ESPN.

Having become “glamorous”, the discipline now attracts a “younger and more mixed” audience, notes Thomas Sénécal, sports director of Canal +, its official broadcaster in France.

break pointdivided into five episodes, follows for its part players who could embody the next generation of world tennis, with in particular the Australian Nick Kyrgios, known for his strokes of genius on the courts as for his rants, or the Tunisian Ons Jaber.

In 2022, the latter had failed in the final of the prestigious Wimbledon tournament, a moment captured on filming.

“I’m not afraid of people seeing through me. […] I just want to show them that we are simply human beings and that we suffer a lot after a defeat, “said the 28-year-old world No.2.

But finding himself a figurehead of world tennis did not bring luck to Kyrgios who, like two players who figure prominently in break pointPaula Badosa and Ajla Tomljanovic, had to forfeit the Australian Open.

The Italian Matteo Berrettini was eliminated as soon as he entered the competition and Jabeur fell Thursday to 2^e round. To the point that we are now talking in Melbourne among the players of a… “Netflix curse”.

holy bread

While waiting for the hearings of break pointsports docu-series continue to appeal and affect all disciplines, from football to rugby, via basketball with the series-event The Last Dance retracing the Michael Jordan era at the Chicago Bulls.

Their number has thus increased by 70% between 2019 and 2022, according to Glance, a Médiamétrie entity specializing in international audiovisual markets.

“Sport is now one of the key themes of documentary series”, comments to AFP Zélie Auvinet, in charge of studies at Glance.

On the same model as break pointfound on Netflix Cheermore unusual, behind the scenes of a team of cheerleaders in Texas, or even “MotoGP Unlimited” at Amazon, on the MotoGP World Championship.

Netflix will also be released in mid-February full-swing, featuring players from the PGA professional golf circuit, and already has a docu-series on the Six Nations Tournament in its boxes for 2024. The Tour de France 2022 will be in the spotlight by the summer, in partnership with France Télévisions.

For chains, immersion is also holy bread. In May, Canal+ will for example slip into the heart of rugby in the semi-finals of the Top 14, and hopes to do the same with football. The channel has also doubled its offer of sports documentaries in 2023.

“Beyond the great spectacle, sport offers exceptional dramaturgy, destinies, struggles against adversity, injuries… The public is also fond of it! “, underlines Anne Georget, president of Fipadoc, the international documentary festival which starts Friday in Biarritz.