Aces docuseries explores the making of ATP No. 1 legends

Aces: The ATP No. 1 Club premiered June 22 on Prime Video in the United States and June 29 on 5 in the United Kingdom, turning the ATP’s rarest ranking into a four-part streaming event. The series centered on a simple fact with outsized historical weight: only 29 men have reached world No. 1 in ATP rankings since 1972.

The structure made the editorial choices plain. One episode focused on the pioneers of modern tennis, another on the 1990s race to No. 1, a third on the turn of the millennium, and the final chapter on the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era, alongside younger stars such as Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev. That design gave the biggest slice of screen time to the most commercially familiar stretch of men’s tennis, while also tying the current rankings conversation to archive footage and present-day behind-the-scenes access.

The interview list reinforced that approach. John McEnroe, Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner all appeared among the voices used to tell the story. Pat Dimon, the Emmy Award-winning director, called it "a privilege and lifelong dream" to speak with the sport’s greatest players and hear how they handled historic matches, fierce rivalries, and the mental and physical path to No. 1.

For tennis, the series also worked as a curatorial exercise in who gets to write the record. By making No. 1 the organizing principle, it narrowed history to a list of 29 men and elevated the sport’s most bankable mythology, especially the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era, where legacy debates already drive global attention. Andrea Gaudenzi, the ATP chairman, said the project helped fans understand what it takes to reach the top and showcased the sport’s greatest champions.

Its distribution showed the reach of that bet. BrightNorth USA produced the series with the ATP, ATP Media and Front Office Sports Studios, while Paramount Global Content Distribution handled sales across platforms that included Bell Media’s Crave in Canada, SkyShowtime in Europe, Now TV Hong Kong and JioHotstar in India. In the streaming era, tennis history is not just preserved, it is packaged, licensed and sold to whichever platform can turn greatness into repeat viewing.