Okay I’ll admit it — I didn’t stay up to watch the Australian Open finals. Neither the Men’s nor Women’s.

As much as I love tennis, I’m a huge baby on little sleep. Never grew out of it I guess.

But thanks to YouTube, I (for the most part) understand what happened in both matches. And more importantly, the highlights injected one shot into my mind that’s been looping over and over since the first time I watched it.

It’s a sliding, down-the-line backhand winner from Carlos, from the middle of court. What a mouthful.

Anyways, why is this shot occupying 28% of my wittle brain? Because it’s one of the best answers to the question, “what’s different about tennis now compared to 5 years ago?” Before we go further, let’s take a look at the shot.

This is where things get interesting. Carlos actually gets to this ball in plenty of time. So he could have hit a regular open stance backhand — one where you plant your left leg out wide and then push off of it to get power.

But this isn’t 2018. And we’re talking about Carlos freaking Alcaraz.

Instead, as soon as Carlos passes the center hash, he starts preparing to slide.

And while going full Chazz Michael Michaels, he perfectly times an absolute rocket of a backhand up the line that ends up as a winner. Novak doesn’t get anywhere near it.

Carlos makes it look so easy, but I can’t stress this enough: at full speed, this shot is absolutely insane.

It’s an incredible display of stability, flexibility, strength, and timing considering that he’s going full speed, starts his slide at the hash mark, and makes contact 5-6 feet later.

And it even got a not bad from the original king of sliding himself.

When people ask me what’s changed about tennis recently, I think of this shot. Players like Alcaraz and Sinner are electing to slide into groundstrokes because they can 1. generate a ton of power from the technique and 2. recover back to the middle of the court faster, since they’re not taking extra steps when they hit.

Sliding on hard court existed in the Big 3 era, no doubt. But (for the most part) only when it was required — when the ball was very far out of reach. Now it’s an almost table stakes skill.

So next time you’re watching some pro ball, try to notice when players are intentionally sliding. It’s one of the new skills of the modern game.

Let’s get in the weeds. Wimbledon famously takes incredible care of its courts. How tall is every single blade of grass supposed to be across their 38 courts during the Championships?

A. 0.3 inches

B. 0.5 inches

C. 0.85 inches

D. 1 inch

Find out at the bottom!

Here’s a crazy stat. Fabio Fognini beat Nadal on clay 3 times! I believe Djokovic and Dominic Thiem are the only other players to ever do that. But at the same time, Fognini ended his career 0-12 against Federer and Djokovic. The perfect paradox for someone as streaky as Fognini.

Top comment on the Reddit post: “That Federer kid had potential” 😂

Some of the best tennis content I found on the internet this week…

😈 “I was never told that I was going to be good. I always wanted to prove people wrong because I wanted to be good and no one thought I could be.” - from a great clip with 4x Slam champ Jim Courier

📹 An inside look into Ben Shelton’s 2026 AO run (11 min)

😂 A recap of the funniest moments from the 2025 ATP season. The voice crack from Mohamed Lahyani gets me every time

A. 0.3 inches

It’s actually 8 millimeters, but my American brain can’t compute metric units. And I thought having the options in millimeters was the fastest way to lose 100 subscribers.

Thought this was interesting: “The amount a ball bounces is largely determined by the soil, not the grass,” Wimbledon reports. “The soil must be hard and dry to allow 13 days of play without damage to the court sub-surface.”