Productions that recount the lives of great sportspeople are often laden with a rah-rah-rah, “win at all costs” mentality that I find about as appealing as a fart in an elevator. But watching the ABC’s new series about Australian tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley – a former world No 1 whose accomplishments include seven grand slam singles titles – it is soon clear this will be something else, something deeper. Her story unfolds over three well-paced episodes with a refreshing kind of gracefulness. While it is perhaps not must-see viewing, it’s well above standard sports fare, and I remained captivated throughout.
From the start, director Wayne Blair (whose recent work includes Plum, Bay of Fires and Mystery Road: Origin season two) sets a contemplative tone, with light-filled compositions and a flashback structure that fluidly oscillates between past and present – less like a tennis to-and-fro than streams of water crossing and intersecting.
