There are sports documentaries that get made because the streamer needs something for the slate, and there are sports documentaries that get made because the subject finally said yes.
RAFA, Netflix’s four-part series on Rafael Nadal, is firmly in the second category — and now we have a poster to finally show for it!
The newly launched poster shows Nadal flat on his back on the clay, with the tagline “A life beyond limits.” The second is a close-up profile, all sweat and concentration, paired with a Nadal quote: “To reach the top, you have to go near the limit.”
RAFA covers Nadal’s entire career, from his first racquet at age three to his final professional match in November 2024 — but the spine of the series is 2024 itself. The show covers the injuries, the decision to retire, the arrival of fatherhood, and finally, his farewell tour at Roland Garros, which ended in a first-round loss to Alexander Zverev, in the very stadium where he won 14 of his 22 Grand Slams. Per Netflix, every episode is built around what they call Nadal’s “most constant rival” — his own body.
It is, in other words, less a tennis documentary than a documentary about endurance. Which, given Nadal’s 112-4 lifetime record at the French Open, is probably the only honest framing left.
The marquee gets are the rivals. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and John McEnroe all sit for new interviews. Getting all three of those names on the same project is not an easy undertaking, so we know it’ll probably make us cry.
Zachary Heinzerling, the Oscar-nominated director for Cutie and the Boxer, and most recently, Stolen Youth, is directing. He’s a more interesting choice than the standard sports-doc journeyman, and it suggests Netflix is positioning this as a prestige project.
Meanwhile, the producers are Skydance Sports — David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold, Jason Reed, and Jon Weinbach — the studio behind Air, America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix is campaigning RAFA at the Primetime Emmys, not the Sports Emmys — pushing it in Best Documentary Series, Directing, Editing, Cinematography, Sound, and Score. The series is primarily in Spanish, which, if it lands a nomination, would make it among the first non-English projects to break into the Best Documentary Series category.
RAFA premieres on Netflix on May 29, 2026 — three weeks into the French Open and just past the men’s final on May 30. The release date is doing a lot of heavy lifting, and we're here for it.
Netflix’s four-part series RAFA offers an intimate, career-spanning portrait of Rafael Nadal, framed around his tumultuous 2024 season and his farewell at Roland Garros. Focusing on injuries, retirement, and fatherhood, the documentary explores endurance more than tennis, with new interviews from Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and John McEnroe, and direction by Oscar nominee Zachary Heinzerling.