Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Break Point’ Part 2 on Netflix, Catching Up With The Rising Superstars of Tennis

At the beginning of 2023, Netflix released five episodes of Break Point–a new series that promised to bring the wildly-successful Drive to Survive formula to the world of professional tennis. Where those episodes covered the first half of the 2022 season, they’re now back with an additional batch to cover the back half. Existing storylines ramp up, some new faces are introduced, and some epic clashes promise to take center stage.

BREAK POINT: PART 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A montage of slow-moving shots of the halls and courts of Wimbledon, backed by a swell of inspiring music. Stefanos Tsitsipas intones reverently, “Wimbledon is the most prestigious event that has ever been known to tennis. There is this aura about it. The tranquility of the grass, the all-white dress code, and… the silence. Complete silence.” Suddenly, the beat drops, and we get Nick Kyrgios sneering at the idea of following stuffy rules. It’s a great stage-setter for this part of the season.

The Gist: The second half of Break Point’s first season picks up where we left off–after seeing us through the Australian Open and French Open in the first five episodes, we’ll now get to see the US Open and Wimbledon. The series holds its tight focus on a small set of competitors–Nick Kyrgios, Ons Jabeur, Ajla Tomljanovic and a few others–but we’ll get a peek at big moments like Serena Williams’ final US Open. The question is, can the show effectively tell the story of an entire sport through its limited window?

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Well, if you haven’t already dove into the first half of Break Point, that’s a good place to get familiar, but there’s no denying that this is meant to recapture the magic Netflix has experienced with Drive To Survive.

Our Take: There’s no question that Netflix scored a massive hit in developing the Formula One-racing focused documentary series Drive To Survive. It wasn’t just a success for the streaming service, it led to a marked uptick in interest in the sport from American viewers. Naturally, they’re attempting to recreate the formula in other sports–the golf-focused Full Swing, and the tennis-focused Break Point.

The first half of the first season was an entertaining package, one that did offer a compelling look at some of the bigger personalities in the sport, carrying viewers through the first half of the 2022 season and through the Australian and French Opens.

But the show faces a fundamental difference from its predecessor. While Formula One racing holds to a narrow field of 20 competitors, tennis is a big, sprawling sport with a lot more personalities and storylines to cover. The filmmakers have to be selective in the personalities and narrative arcs they commit to, and that runs the risk of giving a narrow, skewed view of the season.

This problem persists into the second half of the first season, with–much like in the first half–a disproportionate focus on Nick Kyrgios. It’s understandable why this decision is made–Kyrgios isn’t just a major figure in the sport, he’s a brash, competitive and often-offensive figure, a reliable source of colorful content. Some of this is outweighed by an added focus on fellow Australian Ajla Tomljanović, who gets a good amount of screen time on the way to a highly-successful finish to her 2022 season.

There are some terrifically entertaining moments in the second half of the season–most notably Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas’s wild clash at Wimbledon–ones that, in sum, make it an improvement over the first half, and the show seems to be gaining confidence as it goes forward. Hopefully, as they move into future seasons, there can be less reliance on a few stars, and some of the biggest moments of the season at large get glossed over in service of the predetermined storylines. Break Point has a lot to work with–the premise of the show is very solid, and there’s a lot of promise going forward–but there’s room to grow as the show finds a proper balance of the wide view vs. the narrow view.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: The first episode of the second half of the season ends on a distinct cliffhanger, in the middle of Kyrgios and Tsitsipas’s clash at Wimbledon, as Kyrgios argues with referees that Tsitsipas should be defaulted for hitting a ball into the crowd in frustration. Anger simmers from both players, and it almost seems like we’re at a… Break Point?

Sleeper Star: As in the first half of the season, Nick Kyrgios gets a lot of the attention in the second half, but don’t sleep on Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, who seizes the opportunity to present an engaging, compelling image here.

Most Pilot-y Line: “I’m just going to diss all the legends of the sport,” Kyrgios jokes in one scene, playing off his image as a swaggering, trash-talking loudmouth.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Break Point hasn’t quite hit the heights of Drive to Survive, but it’s gaining steam as it goes, and the improvement from Part 1 to Part 2 suggests a strong future for the show.

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and proficient internet user based in Louisville, Kentucky who publishes the widely-beloved Action Cookbook Newsletter.