Break Point Drops the Ball on Domestic Abuse Allegations

Last year, Netflix's tennis documentary Break Point offered both fun and frustration to fans who were eager to see the sport's young talent introduced to a broader audience. Following closely along with players like Ons Jabeur, Frances Tiafoe, and Iga Swiatek as they ascended to the upper echelons of pro tennis was illuminating, but the year-long lag between filming and airing held the show back from being a true and vital companion to the ongoing tennis season.

In its second season, Break Point remains as frustrating as ever, with its likable stars and candid moments overshadowed by production decisions that leave a bad taste in the mouth. This centers specifically on German tennis star Alexander Zverev, who is the focus of the fourth episode, "Unfinished Business." Zverev didn't feature much in the first season, but his on-court storyline is made for the Break Point cameras, as he battles back from a nasty-looking ankle injury suffered at the 2022 French Open.

At that point, Zverev was a Top 5-ranked player, and nothing can derail upward momentum on the tennis tour like an injury. If you're only familiar with Zverev through this episode, you'll probably find him to be a bit of a brat (not an uncommon affliction among tennis' young male stars), dedicated to his comeback, and angling to get one over on his Russian rival Daniil Medvedev, whose unsportsmanlike antics have been known to get into Zverev's head.

What you won't see is any mention of the domestic abuse and assault charges that have followed Zverev off the court for the last several years. In 2021, Zverev's ex-girlfriend Olya Sharypova told Ben Rothenberg that Zverev punched her and held a pillow over her face on multiple occasions in 2019. Two years later, Zverev was ordered by a court to pay a financial settlement to another woman, Brenda Patea, with whom he has a child.

To date, the Association of Tennis Professionals (the organizing body of the men's tennis tour) has not sanctioned or punished Zverev in any way for his assault charges. (But Zverev was suspended for 8 weeks in 2022 for smashing his racket against the umpire's chair.) Perhaps more frustrating, though, has been the relative silence from tennis and sports media in general on the subject. Rothenberg, a tennis journalist and podcaster, has been comparatively outspoken on the matter, and NBC's Mary Carillo brought the issue up once, however briefly, during a broadcast in 2021. She later resigned from her role as broadcast commentator for the Laver Cup event in 2021, citing that invitation-only event's decision to have Zverev play.

In its first season, Break Point soft-pedaled the episode on Nick Kyrgios' Wimbledon performance, which coincided with domestic violence allegations that emerged during the Aussie troublemaker's run to the finals. Kyrgios would later plead guilty that case, but that bump in the narrative didn't fit in with the show's triumphant arc for him. Instead of soft-pedaling for Zverev, the docuseries simply never raises the issue, nor do the numerous tennis commentators interviewed or (obviously) Zverev himself.

An argument could be made that Break Point is focusing on the players’ performance on the court. But that’s not the case here. The whole point of the show is to get into the players' heads. Zverev and Medvedev's rivalry was about off-court mind games. In his episode, Zverev talks about his diabetes diagnosis and the charitable foundation he's started to help people with his same disease. In her episode later in the season, Jessica Pegula, the top American woman on the tennis tour, talks a bit about her mother, Buffalo Bills co-owner Kim Pegula, who suffered cardiac arrest two years ago and has been quietly recovering brain function ever since. That, of course, is a story of family perseverance and not a dark cloud of suspicion and violence hanging over someone like Zverev. You can see why the ATP wouldn't relish that kind of storyline.

Break Point doesn't need to be a Real Sports-style investigative journalism show. But to completely avoid the Zverev story, seemingly just to get access to the man, is so disappointing. It also makes for a troubling trend on Netflix, after Untold declined to give much focus to credible accusations of abuse against both Jake Paul and Johnny Manziel in their respective episodes on those men. Break Point promised to take viewers behind the curtain of professional tennis and reveal the personalities behind it. That promise is null and void if Alexander Zverev — and the media — isn't willing to be honest.

The first six episodes of Break Point Season 2 are streaming on Netflix. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.