Tennis is abuzz with tongue-in-cheek discuss a “Netflix curse” in the course of the Australian Open, drawing a line from the streaming service’s new docuseries in regards to the sport to the current tough instances for Season 1 protagonists.
Of the ten gamers featured prominently throughout the 5 episodes launched final week, proper earlier than the beginning of play at Melbourne Park, just one stays within the singles competitors heading into Saturday: Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 22-year-old from Canada.
The No. 6-seeded Auger-Aliassime, a U.S. Open semifinalist in 2021, mentioned he wasn’t conscious this was even a subject of dialog till Friday, when his girlfriend clued him in.
“I thought it was funny,” he mentioned after beating Twenty eighth-seeded Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to succeed in the fourth spherical. “I don’t know; I don’t think it’s connected. … Maybe the players that lost, maybe they do feel like it’s connected, somehow. I don’t think they do. I don’t think it’s connected, anyhow.”
Well, after all it isn’t.
There is not any such factor as a “curse” on the planet of sports activities, though of us certain do like to concoct and talk about them. The Curse of the Bambino, for one. The Sports Illustrated cowl jinx was one other.
It is value noting that nobody is drawing any form of comparable foolish connection between lively participation within the filming of Netflix’s widespread “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” — made by the identical govt producers as “Break Point” — and F1’s on-track outcomes.
Consider: Lewis Hamilton has taken half in interviews and managed to win the motive force’s championship in every of the primary three years of that collection. Max Verstappen, in the meantime, didn’t sit for the Netflix cameras and picked up the previous two titles.
Still, only for enjoyable, let’s run down the roster of what’s been launched from “Break Point”:
— Episode 1: Nick Kyrgios (withdrew earlier than the match as a result of he wants surgical procedure on his left knee); Thanasi Kokkinakis (misplaced to 35-year-old Andy Murray within the second spherical in a five-setter that lasted 5 hours, 45 minutes and ended at 4:05 a.m. on Friday)
— Episode 2: Matteo Berrettini (misplaced to Murray within the first spherical in a five-setter that lasted 4 hours, 49 minutes); Ajla Tomljanovic (withdrew earlier than the match due to an injured knee)
— Episode 3: Maria Sakkari (misplaced to 87th-ranked Zhu Lin within the second spherical Friday in a three-setter); Taylor Fritz (misplaced to 113th-ranked Australian wild-card entry Alexei Popyrin within the second spherical in a five-setter)
— Episode 4: Ons Jabeur (misplaced to Marketa Vondrousova within the second spherical in a three-setter); Paula Badosa (withdrew earlier than the match with an injured thigh)
— Episode 5: Auger-Aliassime (performs Jiri Lehecka within the fourth spherical Sunday); Casper Ruud (misplaced to Jenson Brooksby within the second spherical)
Yes, certainly one of these isn’t just like the others.
“Funny how things work out sometimes,” Auger-Aliassime mentioned.
