Apple TV announced Tuesday it will produce a multi-part documentary series on tennis legend Andre Agassi, sixteen years after the publication of his acclaimed memoir “Open: An Autobiography.”
The series will be directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Chris Smith and produced by Smith’s Library Films. Justin Gimelstob and Stacy Smith will serve as executive producers.
Apple has become a major player in the sports documentary space over the past few years, though this announcement signals a shift toward individual athlete profiles after recent emphasis on team-focused projects. The streamer released “The Dynasty: New England Patriots,” a sprawling 10-part series in 2024 that generated significant attention for its portrayal of the Belichick-Brady era.
The company has also produced docuseries on Lionel Messi, Stephen Curry, and Lewis Hamilton, as well as “Greatness Code,” a short-form series featuring athletes such as LeBron James and Tom Brady. Apple secured a first-look deal with Meadowlark Media in 2021 for documentaries and unscripted series, expanding its sports content strategy beyond its live sports rights deals with Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball’s Friday Night Baseball package.
Agassi’s memoir was widely regarded as one of the greatest sports books in American literature when it was published in 2009, offering an unflinching look at his complicated relationship with tennis, his struggles with addiction, and his eventual redemption. The book revealed that Agassi hated tennis throughout much of his career despite his success, including eight Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal.
The docuseries comes as Andre Agassi has reemerged in the sports media landscape after years away from the spotlight. He made his broadcasting debut last year with TNT’s French Open coverage, earning widespread praise for his analysis. But Agassi later told Yahoo Sports he’s not interested in returning to broadcasting just to create “little insightful clips,” saying he prefers formats that allow for deeper conversation about the sport.
“It’s not how I process, it’s not how I see the game, and it’s not a format that allows for much serious conversation around what’s actually going on,” Agassi said of typical studio work.
The documentary format may suit Agassi’s preferences better than broadcasting. Unlike the time constraints of studio work, a multi-part series would allow for the kind of extended, serious conversation about tennis that Agassi told Yahoo he values.
No release date has been announced for the Andre Agassi docuseries.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.