Netflix on Friday is premiering a new docuseries, “Rafa,” in which Rafael Nadal gives viewers an “in-depth look at what it takes to become an icon and the sacrifices required” during his career in tennis. The four-part, nearly four-hour film from director Zachary Heinzerling and produced by Skydance Sports does not “take shortcuts or insult viewers.” It “shows the good, the bad, and the ugly side of Nadal as he puts his body through the wringer.” Heinzerling said that the film “took a year of filming and another year of editing” (USA TODAY, 5/27). The docuseries “achieves more introspection than the average sports documentary, and will feel revelatory to anyone who hasn’t followed the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s career in detail” (THE ATHLETIC, 5/29).
If not for its “transcendent bittersweetness, ‘Rafa’ might be an exemplar of the sports-documentary paradox: Ambitious, wide-ranging and exhaustive, it is rich in the sort of detail that might be of interest only to the type of hardcore fan who would know everything already.” “Rafa” goes on “too long, though the drama is propulsive.” The series is not “entirely downbeat, just supremely self-aware” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/26).
