Despite holding out for an impressively long time, Netflix recently became the latest streaming service vying to become the go-to streamer for sports fans, with its live-streamed matches like the Netflix Cup and Netflix Slam joining a multitude of sports docuseries being released at a break-neck pace. However a major cancellation has thrown Netflix's dreams of sports dominance into jeopardy.
The tennis docuseries Break Point has reportedly been cancelled according to The Times, two months after the debut of the second season on Wednesday, January 10.
Break Point followed the annual tennis calendar, for the sport's WTA and ATP Tours, as players went through the various Grand Slam and smaller events and experienced the highs and lows associated with all its drama. However according to The Times, producers just couldn't get access to enough talent to create compelling TV, which combined with low audience numbers threw the future of the show in jeopardy.
Some major tennis plays featured in Break Point including Iga Świątek, Nick Kyrgios, Casper Ruud and Aryna Sabalenka, but tennis fans will know that some of the most dramatic tennis moments (and players, not to name any Serbian in particular) are missing from this list.
The producers for Break Point are Box to Box Films which also created Formula 1: Drive to Survive. Now in its sixth season, Drive to Survive is credited with reinvigorating interest in F1, largely due to its unrivalled access to racers and teams. The same is also true of Full Swing, a more recent show by Box to Box Films that debuted in 2023 which looks at the PGA Tour.
Inspired by the success of Box to Box Film's various series, Netflix has been churning out similar sports docuseries looking at different types of activity: in 2024 alone there's been NASCAR: Full Speed, Six Nations: Full Contact and a new season of Sunderland 'Til I Die, to name a few.
These have coincided with Netflix's move into live sports streaming, a move likely intended to rival big-name rivals like Prime Video, Apple TV Plus, Paramount Plus, Peacock and Max. We've already seen the aforementioned Netflix Cup and Netflix Slam but this is just the beginning, with a boxing match-up between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul expected to draw eyes in June, and WWE live streams fully moving to Netflix from 2025.
Netflix's massive push to draw more sports fans to its services wasn't going flawlessly, but its Break Point cancellation presents the biggest dent in this plan so far. Live streaming aspirations remain in flux, with the Netflix Cup criticized by fans for technical difficulties and the Netflix Slam failing to make waves with tennis fans (which was advertised to have many players, but only took place with Nadal and Alcaraz). With enough docuseries in the pipeline, Netflix's sports plans won't be derailed by Break Point's failures, but it is a lesson to the streamer that it's not too big to fail just yet.
