Is there a Netflix curse on Australian Open tennis players?

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tennis is abuzz with tongue-in-cheek speak about a “Netflix curse” throughout the Australian Open, drawing a line from the streaming service’s new docuseries concerning the sport to the latest 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, stated he wasn’t conscious this was even a subject of dialog till Friday, when his girlfriend clued him in.

“I assumed it was humorous,” he stated 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 assume it’s linked. … Perhaps the gamers that misplaced, perhaps they do really feel prefer it’s linked, by some means. I don’t assume they do. I don’t assume it’s linked, anyhow.”

Nicely, in fact it isn’t.

There isn’t a such factor as a “curse” on the earth of sports activities, though people certain do like to concoct and talk about them. The Curse of the Bambino, for one. The Sports activities Illustrated cowl jinx was one other.

It’s value noting that nobody is drawing any form of comparable foolish connection between lively participation within the filming of Netflix’s widespread “Method 1: Drive to Survive” — made by the identical government producers as “Break Level” — and F1′s on-track outcomes.

Contemplate: 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 sequence. Max Verstappen, in the meantime, didn’t sit for the Netflix cameras and picked up the previous two titles.

Nonetheless, only for enjoyable, let’s run down the roster of what’s been launched from “Break Level”:

— 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)

Sure, one in every of these is just not just like the others.

“Humorous how issues work out typically,” Auger-Aliassime stated.

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Comply with Howard Fendrich on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports