All "Unstrung"
A few days ago, the documentary film, "Unstrung" premiered at the high-profile Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. There have been several feature films involving tennis in the past few years (e.g. "Wimbledon" featuring Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany, "Match Point" by Woody Allen featuring Scarlett Johanssen). This is the first documentary about tennis to hit the mainstream, at least on the festival circuit. The film follows several promising male American junior tennis players on the way to the USTA Nationals in Kalamazoo, Michigan. One of the producers is former tennis star, Jim Courier. The documentary, which was clearly shot and edited on a tight budget, features interviews with tennis legends John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Nick Bollettieri, as well as junior stars, Donald Young, Holden Seguso (son of former Tour stars Carling Bassett and Robert Seguso) and Sam Querrey (now ranked in the top 100 on the ATP Tour). Although the film does illustrate
how difficult it can be to fulfill one's dreams of becoming a pro tennis player, it doesn't shed any new light on a story which has been told many times before about sports, i.e. demanding parents, financial stress, injuries, family sacrifices, unfulfilled expectations, etc. The documentary would have been more compelling if it had explored new territory, e.g. how is junior tennis different from other junior sports, how does the experience vary by country, how has it evolved over the years, etc. Regardless, a film about tennis is great PR for the sport so let's hope it hits many multiplexes around the world!
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