“I had to do what I did. If you want to do something in life, you have to pay a price. No matter what it takes.”
It’s something legendary and controversial tennis coach Nick Bollettieri knows well in Showtime’s documentary Love Means Zero, which explores the cost of his all consuming drive for greatness.
Bollettieri was one of the first to, as he puts it in the trailer, “take kids away from their parents, to an academy,” where he coached a generation of champions. He became a father figure to many, but there was also a level of hurt and betrayal as he played favorites.
The documentary explores his marriages, finances and relationships, including his terminationion oh his coaching relationship with Andre Agassi, his most cherished student.
“Hey, in life baby, if you don’t wrong, you’ll never work the top of the mountain,” Bollettieri says in the promo.
The TV film features interviews with former students and tennis prodigies, including Jim Courier, Kathleen Horvath, Carling Bassett and Boris Becker.
A Kilo Films production, Love Means Zero is produced and directed by Jason Kohn. Amanda Branson Gill, Anne White, Jill Mazursky and David Styne also serve as producers.
Love Means Zero debuted at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, and will premiere June 23 at 9 p.m. on Showtime.
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