Netflix Plans Live Tennis Match Between Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal in Sports Expansion

Alex Weprin
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Netflix is serving up more live sports.

The streaming giant on Monday announced a live exhibition tennis match between two of the sport’s biggest stars: 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal facing off against world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

The match is being branded as The Netflix Slam, and will be held on March 3, 2024, at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.

The event will feature other tennis matchups as well, with players TBD. It will stream in both English and Spanish for global markets. Both Nadal and Alcaraz are from Spain.

The Netflix Slam is the second in-house live sporting event for Netflix following The Netflix Cup last month. The Netflix Cup was a live golf exhibition match, with PGA tour pros featured in the Netflix docuseries Full Swing pairing up with Formula 1 drivers featured in Drive to Survive.

The Netflix Slam is another live event featuring a popular country club sport (this time tennis) and turning it into a made-for-streaming event. While Netflix does have a tennis docuseries called Break Point, neither Nadal nor Alcaraz were featured in the first season. It is not clear if any players featured in the series will also take part in The Netflix Slam.

“I’m thrilled that with The Netflix Slam, we can give our global audience an opportunity to watch two tennis greats battle each other in a one-of-a-kind live event,” said Gabe Spitzer, vp nonfiction sports for Netflix. “A legend like Rafa and a champion like Carlos together on the court, along with tons of other action, promises to be a live show fans won’t want to miss.”

Netflix has carved out a space as the biggest player in the sports docuseries field, turning shows like Drive to Survive and Quarterback into big hits. And while it has not pursued any major live sports rights, it appears to have settled on a strategy to produce its own in-house events. Doing so lets it control the program, and add built-in sponsors. For subscribers to Netflix’s ad-free tiers, the live events will create the only exposure they have to sponsorships on the platform.

Full Day Productions will produce The Netflix Slam. The production company (owned by Peter Chernin’s North Road), also produced The Netflix Cup and The ESPY Awards.

Best of The Hollywood Reporter