Some movie releases arrive at exactly the right moment. Others seem to have somehow chosen the release date when their target audience has the least free time. ACES: The ATP No. 1 Club, a new four-part documentary series from Amazon Prime Video, falls squarely into the latter category.
As someone who feels obligated to consume new tennis media as soon as they are released, I would have been expected to be in the target audience on day 1. Instead, I have not watched a single episode, and it will likely be a while before I do.
The timing is simply brutal. Wimbledon is in full swing, and there aren’t enough hours in the day to stream all of the matches that I am interested in. This year, with the FIFA World Cup also in the mix, pretty much every available hour not occupied by work, eating, or sleeping is already spoken for. Documentaries, no matter how promising, are much easier to postpone than live sports in real time.
I suspect I am not alone. Tennis fans who would appreciate a series on the history of the ATP rankings are probably the same people who will prioritize watching Wimbledon and the World Cup.
That is not to say that I am not looking forward to taking in ACES: The ATP No. 1 Club. The trailer suggests that this is more than just another highlight reel of famous champions. By organizing the story around the exclusive club of ATP World No. 1 players, the series appears to have found a compelling framework for exploring the evolution of the men’s game across multiple generations. It promises to examine what it actually meant to reach the top of professional tennis across different eras, as well as how each player who achieved that peak impacted the game.
When my viewing schedule finally returns to something resembling normal, this will be near the top of the list. I fully expect to review the complete series on this site after I’ve had the opportunity to give it the attention it deserves.
One other thought occurred to me while watching the trailer. If this series is successful, I hope it is only the beginning. The ATP’s history is rich with stories about greatness, rivalry, longevity, and the unique pressure that comes with becoming World No. 1. The same is true of the WTA.
A comparable documentary tracing the women who have reached the top ranking would be every bit as compelling, if not more. The WTA is a richer canvas examining the remarkable stylistic and cultural shifts that have resulted from women’s tennis over the past five decades. In other words, the men who reached the top of the ATP rankings undeniably changed the game. In many cases, the women who accomplished that same feat changed society.
For now, ACES: The ATP No. 1 Club will languish on my “to watch” queue. That is less a reflection of my interest in the documentary than of the extraordinarily crowded sports calendar at this time of the year. Sometimes the best problem a sports fan can have is simply too much to watch.
ACES: The ATP No. 1 Club (<- Sponsored Link)
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