Today, Wimbledon featured four five-setters (and the conclusion of another) and a ton of entertaining matches. There was great drama for all the top players ,and nothing was ever certain. We saw Rafael Nadal again pushed to the brink by Lukas Rosol before Rosol seemed to lose a bit of his edge. We saw Stan Wawrinka challenged by Yen-Hsun Lu. And we witnessed the emergence of two young players, Jiri Vesely and Nick Kyrgios, as they came through tough five-set matches to upset seeded players Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet, respectively.

Honor Roll:

Nick Kyrgios (defeated Gasquet 36 67 64 75 10-8)—Wow. That’s about all we can say. Gasquet wasn’t at his absolute best, but he still played very good tennis and would have beaten most players today. Kyrgios never gave up, though, and played a beautiful attacking match, hitting winners from everywhere through Gasquet’s solid defense. The young Aussie is skyrocketing through the rankings and should be challenging the top players very soon.

Milos Raonic (defeated Sock 63 64 64)—People always put Raonic in a group together with the likes of Isner, Karlovic, and Kevin Anderson, but he really doesn’t belong there. He is in a group all by himself. The other three have huge serves and big groundstrokes that can occasionally win them rallies. Raonic actually has a baseline game—and a good one. His serve is unbreakable, but it is far more useful that he can beat opponents on return as well. He has the game and the talent to win Wimbledon. A quarterfinal matchup with Rafa, should they both get there, will tell us if he’s ready to make good on that potential.

Kei Nishikori (defeated Kudla 63 62 61)—For someone who supposedly doesn’t like grass, Nishikori has quite the grass game. His movement is solid, and his strokes are penetrating and challenging as always. Kudla is not quite on the same talent level as Kei, but Nishikori made his opponent look helpless today in a way that only the very top players can.

Lost Their Homework:

Gael Monfils (lost to Vesely 67 36 76 76 46)—It is no secret that Monfils is not a fan of grass, despite his raw power. He looked slightly bothered by a knee or thigh injury and did not seem to compete well in the first two sets. His opponent got tight in the third and fourth sets, though, and Monfils won them despite looking like he didn’t really want to. Monfils had chances to break at 4-3* in the fifth set but couldn’t take them, proceeding to get broken in the following game and losing the match shortly afterward. This is a match that Monfils should have won. But that isn’t even the biggest takeaway here. Many people have been saying it for a long time, but he needs to adjust his attitude on court sometimes. It wasn’t good today, and it cost him this match.

John Isner (defeated Nieminen 76 76 75)—Why am I critiquing Isner here? Because he could have done so much better. He did well to win both tiebreaks, including a 36-point epic in the first set, but the match never should have come to that point. Isner still has the best serve in the game; there is no disputing that. He still is tough for anyone to beat on any day. But he needs to do something different on return. At this point, he may as well try anything. Isner could reach the quarterfinals here without a good return game, but he could also lose in the next round because of it. It’s fine to be totally reliant on that serve, which has kept him ranked in the 10-20 range. But he could be so much better if he worked on his baseline abilities.

Philipp Kohlschreiber (lost to Bolelli 64 46 36 62 57)—Kohlschreiber’s talent is obvious so often on court. We watch him bring out impressive performances throughout the year. Then, when we finally expect him to break through, he lays an egg. Kohlschreiber is far more talented than this performance indicates. On grass, easily his best surface, Kohlschreiber should have routed this Italian journeyman. He played a poor match overall and it cost him in this tournament.

Match of the Day:

It was overshadowed by the Nadal vs. Rosol rematch, but the best and most compelling match of the day, by far, was Gasquet against Kyrgios. The first two sets went by without too much drama, as Gasquet took both sets from the young Aussie behind some very good play. Most attention left this match in favor of Nadal, which is a real shame.

Kyrgios picked things up as the third set began, while Gasquet lost a little pop on his shots with a possible shoulder issue, or overall fatigue. This led to a downright dogfight between the pair in which neither budged an inch. Kyrgios hung with Gasquet every step of the way in the third set and then managed to grab a break late to steal the set. He repeated the process in the fourth set, and all of a sudden we had a one-set marathon on our hands.

With both Kyrgios and Lleyton Hewitt scheduled to play on No. 2 Court, the Australian Fan-atics were out in full force. Vocally backing Kyrgios to the point of rudeness, they cheered anything and everything positive from the Aussie. Gasquet served first and held without trouble eight times. Also, on nine occasions he had a match point on Kyrgios’ serve. Kyrgios saved each of them with a huge serve or brilliant play. Gasquet never had a real chance on any of them. Eventually, Kyrgios found a way to break Gasquet’s serve at 8-8 and serve out the match.

The intensity and tightness of this match, however, does not give full voice to just how incredibly the match itself was played. Kyrgios hit 86 winners and 44 unforced errors. Gasquet, in a losing effort, hit 76 winners and only 24 errors. Even with Wimbledon’s favorable scoring, those numbers are sensational. The pair combined for 162 winners. That’s more points than many players will win in a 5-set match. It was a beautiful display from both players, and I cannot wait to watch both of them play again. Kyrgios is a rising star and, if this match was any indication, Gasquet still has more room to rise as well.