Stream It Or Skip It?

Sports documentaries are hot these days, and the world of tennis is full of big personalities made for the camera. Uninterrupted’s Top Class Tennis, a new four-part documentary series from a team that includes LeBron James and Maverick Carter, seeks to put a spotlight on the cutthroat world of junior tennis, following four players as they work toward the Orange Bowl, one of junior tennis’s biggest events.

Opening Shot: Intense, thudding music undergirds a montage of quotes from some of the young athletes we’re about to be introduced to. “The world of junior tennis is, basically, organized chaos.” “Super super long days every day.” “A rollercoaster of emotion.” “It’s kind of brutal.” “Even if you don’t want the pressure, it comes with it.” “Junior tennis isn’t for everyone.” The tone is set early: these kids are facing a lot of expectations!

The Gist: The series focuses on four of the brightest young talents in junior tennis–Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo, Joseph Oyebog, Jr., Stephanie Yakoff, and Stiles Brockett, as they prepare for the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships, one of the premier events on the junior tennis calendar. Interviews and training footage show their struggles through grueling practice schedules, striving toward what might be a make-or-break event for their budding tennis careers.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There’s some parallels here to Netflix’s Break Point, although that show focuses on the world’s top pros in the ATP tour, while this one sticks to juniors. Really, though, the closest comparison for Uninterrupted’s Top Class Tennis is Top Class: The Life and Times of The Sierra Canyon Trailblazers, a series from the same team that followed top prep basketball players in a similar format.

Our Take: “Any sport that you want to be great at or spend this much time doing, it’s an obsession,” Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo observes early on in the first episode of Uninterrupted’s Top Class Tennis. “Things will keep you up at night. I have dreams about practices or matches, when it wakes me up, I’m like ‘this is ridiculous, I’m losing my mind.’ I feel like that’s what makes tennis players a little crazy, you’re always trying to be perfect.”

That clip–one of many interviews with the four young players featured in this four-part documentary series–hits on the program’s thesis statement more than anything: this stuff is really hard.

That’s not meant to be reductive, but rather to give you an idea of the perspective the filmmakers are coming from here. This series is about tennis, sure, but it’s less about the specific challenges of the sport than it is the huge pressures placed on developmental athletes at the top levels of any junior sport. These kids are giving up a lot of normal experiences–really, any chance at a normal adolescence–for the rare opportunity to hopefully become one of the world’s top athletes.

In addition to the four athletes profiled in the series, we meet some of their coaches and trainers, but some of the best perspective comes from top current pro Coco Gauff, who–at only age 20 now–appears here as the wise veteran, the player who’s been through this ringer and came out successful on the other end.

There’s no silly drama here, and that’s to be appreciated–the filmmakers aren’t trying to manufacture characters for the purposes of making an entertaining show, they’re just trying to tell the stories of these players. It’s a respectful, thoughtful approach, something akin to a long-form version of the bio reels that we get in between Olympic events. Unfortunately, this virtuous approach leaves it somewhat in search of a narrative; yes, the players are working toward the Orange Bowl, but it’s hard to find a hook to keep a casual viewer or less-than-hardcore tennis fan interested.

Uninterrupted’s Top Class Tennis isn’t an unpleasant viewing experience–indeed, if you do watch, you’ll likely find yourself rooting for these hardworking young athletes, and coming to understand why they’ve made the sacrifices they’re making. As Anazagasty-Pursoo notes, “Being a junior tennis player is super intense, but I also get huge opportunities that a normal 16-year old wouldn’t get to experience.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: There’s 37 days until the Orange Bowl, and the plans are coming together–but the pressure is mounting. We go out with a montage similar to the one we started with, and more intense music–are these players going to seize the moment? “Everyone has a love-hate relationship with tennis,” Yakoff observes, “It sucks, it’s so hard on your body. I’ll basically play until I drop.”

Sleeper Star: There’s a good balance here–each of the four athletes has something to share–but if pressed to choose a standout, it’s might Joseph Oyebog, Jr., a soft-spoken teen who recounts daily three-hour commutes from his home to the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in order to pursue his dreams of tennis stardom, dreams handed down from his father, a celebrated tennis star in the family’s native Cameroon.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Instead of going to prom, I was going to the Junior French Open,” tennis star Coco Gauff recalls, placing the sacrifices and tradeoffs that these kids are making into the proper context.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Don’t get it wrong–Uninterrupted’s Top Class Tennis is a nicely-done program with an even-handed look at some great young athletes. There just isn’t enough of a hook here to grab any but the most devoted tennis fans.

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