Some of the most acclaimed documentaries of recent decades have come out of the arena of sports, among them Hoop Dreams (1994), When We Were Kings (1996), Senna (2010), O.J.: Made in America (2016), Icarus (2017), and The Last Dance (2020).
Netflix continues that distinguished tradition with a pair of Emmy-contending documentary series with a sports connection: Untold, from Emmy-winning directors Maclain and Chapman Way, and Naomi Osaka, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Garrett Bradley (Time). Bradley’s documentary on the 24-year-old tennis sensation – winner of four Grand Slam singles titles – explores Osaka’s background as the daughter of a Japanese mother and Haitian father, her emergence both as a player and an activist for racial justice, and her openness about dealing with mental health issues in the public spotlight.
Bradley sees Osaka as being in the vanguard of a new kind of superstar athlete. “You’re connecting with people not in a way that is about aspiration, that is unachievable and unattainable excessively,” the director noted during an appearance at a Netflix FYSEE panel in Hollywood. “You’re connecting with people by sharing your experience and your journey. And I think more and more that’s what people are demanding… She’s really at the forefront of it.”
The Way Brothers’ Untold consists of five episodes, each of them examining an overlooked or misunderstood story or figure from sports. The episode titled “Breaking Point” focuses on former top American tennis player Mardy Fish, who suffered a panic attack before the biggest match of his career at the 2012 U.S. Open against Roger Federer. He later made the brave decision to speak publicly about experiencing anxiety disorder.
He was really kind of the first professional athlete while still playing to go on the record about suffering from mental illness,” Chapman Way said at the FYSEE event. “That was 2015, which at the time was almost like an incredibly dangerous thing to do as an athlete… Talking to Mardy and realizing he really wanted to draw back the curtains and talk openly about his mental health and his battle — for us, as filmmakers, I think we realized this is just a truly incredible story that should be documented.