Forgive yourself if you can’t keep track of all the tennis films out there at the moment.
Break Point, the Netflix behind-the-scenes series, may have been canceled earlier this year, but anyone who thought that might be a death-knell for tennis media was mistaken. Each month seemingly, and sometimes each week, yet another filmed player documentary drops on a streaming service that you may or may not subscribe to. The success of Challengers, the Zendaya-led tennis movie that is not really a tennis movie at all, has put stock back into the sport’s cultural currency, and the real-life stars of the sport are in on it too.
The latest and biggest entry into the tennis media canon is Federer: Twelve Final Days, which offers an inside look at the last sliver of the Swiss great’s wondrous career.
Many tears are shed, as Federer, his family, and the contemporary greats of tennis reflect on what it means to retire from a sport whose pinnacle you have largely defined for more than half your life. Directed by Asif Kapadia and Joe Sabia, it opens a window into the emotional toll that retirement took on Federer and his loved ones, especially wife Mirka, as he bowed out at the Laver Cup in September 2022 alongside his friends and rivals, hoisted into the air on the shoulders of those who…
