Netflix's Naomi Osaka is a poignant and painful look at a tennis wunderkind

"There is a problem that sometimes afflicts documentaries about sports personalities, in that the phrase can be an oxymoron," says Rebecca Nicholson. "This is not intended to be an insult: sporting excellence on an international level requires such astonishing dedication that there is rarely time or space for much of a life outside it. Naomi Osaka (Netflix) solves this by turning the tennis player's story into an exploration of both life on the court and the vast spaces around it. It is about loneliness and self-discovery as much as it is about tennis, and it is beautifully done. Each of its three episodes covers a different phase in Osaka's still-nascent career, and though it does not cover her recent withdrawal from the French Open and the subsequent discussion around mental health in sport, it provides substantial context for it." Nicholson adds: "While it has its moments of sadness, this is not a bleak watch. By the third episode, you get the sense that Osaka is transforming her en