Amazon serves up Novak Djokovic original

Amazon has ordered Novak, an original one-off doc about tennis champion Novak Djokovic.

The Serb has won twelve Grand Slams and is ranked number one in the world, although he faltered last night in the US Open, losing to Stan Wawrinka in the final in four sets.

The programme will follow the on and off court life of the tennis star, and is the latest doc to go behind the scenes of one of the sport’s biggest players after Serena William film Serena, which FremantleMedia recently shopped to the BBC.

The WorkShop (The Haney Project, The Vince Papale Story) and Film 45 (On Freddie Roach, Live to Tell) founded by Lone Survivor writer and director Peter Berg.

Amazon will have it exclusively on its Prime Instant Video SVOD service in the US, UK, Germany, Austria and Japan.

Djokovic, who will be an exec producer, said: “My fans have been suffering and celebrating with me from the very beginning of my career on the tennis courts and now I want to share with them all my daily life and what’s important to me – my values, my beliefs, and my habits – and also introduce to them all the amazing people that are always next to me.”

“There are not enough superlatives to describe Novak Djokovic, one of the most accomplished, multi-dimensional, exciting and captivating athletes on the planet,” said Conrad Riggs, head of unscripted, Amazon Studios.

“Prime members will get an intimate look at the mind and life of a world champion, husband and father, as well as the incredible group of individuals that make up his team.”

While Netflix and Amazon have never ventured into covering live sport, both of the streaming services have been keen to have behind-the-scenes sport-themed originals. They are squaring off with American football series, All or Nothing: A Season with the Arizona Cardinals and College football series Last Chance U.