A new docuseries about the career and life of Spanish tennis icon Rafael Nadal is in the works from Netflix and Skydance Sports. This project comes after the decorated athlete retired from the professional game in November after playing for Spain in the Davis Cup Finals. The announcement follows Nadal’s participation in a live exhibition match for Netflix in March – The Netflix Slam with Carlos Alcaraz.
The streamer shared a video to accompany the news, showing a portrait of Nadal on his home turf in Manacor, Mallorca. During this, audio of Nadal’s life in tennis—from his youth (he started playing the game at three and became a pro at 15) to his retirement—plays.
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Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winner Zach Heinzerling will direct the currently unnamed docuseries about the winner of 22 Grand Slam men’s singles titles. The project promises to “include unprecedented access with Nadal throughout his comeback to competitive play in the 2024 season after sitting out much of 2023 due to injury.” While spotlighting his professional career, the docuseries will also follow Nadal’s life off the court in “never-before-seen material from Nadal’s personal archive and featuring landmark access with the tennis star, his family, and his close circle of coaches and advisors,” per Netflix.
Rafael Nadal released a statement about the docuseries:
“I never thought I’d do something like this, but I got a call from David Ellison and with his words together with an amazing project they put in front of my eyes it really convinced me this was the right thing to do. Everyone will be able to see how my life has been during my tennis career and particularly in this vey last year I had. It will also show how my life and my tennis career developed through the years. I am sure the final product, the docuseries, will be amazing and that it will be seen around the world. My thanks to David Ellison and his team at Skydance for creating and believing on this project. To my family and my team for allowing being filmed this past year, I know it was not easy for all of us. To my colleagues and peers who have given time to put themselves in front of a camera for some time. And thanks to the tournaments around the world that facilitated the work, it wasn’t easy.”
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David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, Jason Reed, and Jon Weinbach will produce the untitled docuseries for Skydance Sports. This docuseries also follows Prime Video’s Federer: Twelve Final Days in June, which followed the final 12 days of Roger Federer’s historic tennis career.
Additionally, it will join Netflix’s ever-growing slate of sports entertainment. For example, the streamer recently released a first look at the reality TV show W.A.G.S to Riches. Even more recently, it announced a new Netflix Sports series following the 2024 SEC college football season. While it’s set to debut in the Summer of 2025, there is no premiere date or window slated for the untitled Rafael Nadal docuseries.
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