'Netflix Curse' Hits Australia Open Players

The first Grand Slam tournament has been wall-to-wall failure for tennis stars affected by the so-called "Netflix curse." Out of the 10 top tennis players featured in Netflix documentary Break Point, which came out last week, three didn't even make it to the Australian Open, the Guardian reports. Australians Nick Kyrgios and Ajla Tomljanovic pulled out because of injuries, as did Spanish player Paula Badosa. Out of the remaining seven, none of them made it to the tournament's second week, with some of them crashing out in losses to players ranked far below them. Taylor Fritz, the US men's No.1 and the world's No. 9, was defeated by Australia's Alexei Popyrin, ranked 98 places lower.

Maria Sakkari, Casper Ruud, Matteo Berrettini, Ons Jabeur, and Thanasi Kokkinakis were all eliminated, leaving Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime as the sole remaining player featured in Break Point, CNN reports. After his fourth-round exit, he shrugged off talk of a curse. "I thought it was funny," he said. "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." Netflix tweeted: "To clarify, this is purely a coincidence." The Guardian notes that nervous times might lie ahead for the players featured in the second part of Break Point, which will be released later this year. (More tennis stories.)