It’s the central question of the ATP season: Can any player end the Sincaraz dominance at the Slams? I don’t expect to see it happen, and if it is coming, I can’t see it happening at the Australian Open. But I do think there are a handful of players capable of playing some interesting matches along the way. One such player is Taylor Fritz, who enters as the No. 9 seed in the draw and took Alcaraz to an extremely competitive four-setter at Wimbledon last year. (He also beat Carlitos at Laver Cup, for whatever that’s worth.) On Thursday, the 28-year-old spoke to me over the phone for roughly the duration of a changeover, and since he’s one of the best commentators on the nuts and bolts of tennis, I asked him a few questions that were on my mind.

It’s hard to believe, but you’ve been a pro for a decade now. So looking at the tour in general, what have been the big technical and tactical shifts in the ATP from 2016 to 2026? What feels most different? What do you find yourself thinking about or talking about your coach with that you weren’t thinking back then?

I mean, a lot. I think I see the game a lot differently now than I did back then. I think a lot of that is just, you know, the understanding of having played for so long. I think about a lot of stuff nowadays that I didn’t think about back then, and that’s really standard stuff, like how the balls are affecting how you play, how the court speeds are different. I wasn’t thinking about that as much when I was 18, 19 years old; I would just show up and just play. And I’ve become so much more—like I just notice all those little variables and changes so much more now.

But if we’re talking specifics, really, about the game of tennis, one thing I talk about a lot nowadays is I think people’s second serves have changed so much from when I started playing. I think people used to just kick in their second serve all the time when I was younger. And I think people have gotten so much better at taking that kick serve early on the backhand, even people that have bad backhands. I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good at being able to take that return early and attack it. And I think nowadays, if people don’t, if you’re not playing someone who has a massive kick serve, most people just kind of slide it into the body and keep it lower. I really think the second serve has changed a lot.

This is a personal theory, as a viewer of tennis. Over the past, you know, 15 years, I feel like the footwork has changed dramatically. And I see a lot of sliding on surfaces beyond clay, and I’m wondering if that resonates with you as well. If so, do you think there were certain players who are influential in bringing that about?

To be honest, I don’t actually know when it started. If we go back quite a while ago, sliding on hard court wasn’t a thing always, and now it is. So I can’t speak to exactly who started it and when it started, but I’d say it’s a huge part of the game nowadays. If you can’t—I think if you’re like 6’5″ or smaller, and you can’t slide on a hard court, I think you’re putting yourself at a massive disadvantage just moving-wise. You’re just so much quicker to be able to recover after that ball when you slide into it; it makes such a massive difference. And you know, I’m extremely jealous of the people that can open-stance slide on their left foot to the backhand. That’s something that I just am not able to do—a lot of players aren’t able to do it, but I’m not able to do it. And it, yeah, it’s something I’m really jealous of.

When you think about where the game is right now, where do you see things going over the next five to 10 years, over the latter half of your career?

I’d say a lot of sports are kind of moving in the direction of: bigger, stronger, faster. I think most of the time, players were more like, you have one thing but don’t have another thing. If you’re really tall, you maybe can hit the ball big and you serve big, but you’re not as fast. And nowadays it’s just like, everyone can do everything. I think there’s more complete players, people that are tall and fast and powerful, and people that are smaller can still pop a serve and crush the ball. And I think that’s kind of just the direction that it’s moving: People can kind of do everything. I think there’s a lot less holes in people’s games.

To touch on the exo that you guys are playing in Vegas, when you play a match like this, do you ever think, “Hey, I’m going to use this to work on some specific aspect of my game”? Or are you more just trying to have fun and put on a good show?

No, I mean, I’m definitely just going out there and trying to win. Especially when there’s a prize pool like there is in the Vegas event, I’m 100% going out there and trying to compete, competing and trying really hard. And that’s going to put on a good show in itself, for the crowd, which I’m excited for. And yeah, I’m, I’m there to win. I want to play it like it’s any other event.