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Ash Barty pushed No.4 seed Elina Svitolina all the way in the first round at Wimbledon but despite saving five match points, she couldn't win the most important points.

London, UK, 4 July 2017 | Matt Trollope

Ash Barty fought for nearly two hours before going down in the first round of Wimbledon to fourth seed Elina Svitolina.

Barty served for the first set and saved five match points in the second but ultimately couldn’t stop the Ukrainian running out a 7-5 7-6(8) winner.

This match had been pegged as a potential upset in the women’s draw; Svitolina came in under an injury cloud – having struggled with a heel injury in an early loss in Birmingham – on her least-preferred surface.

Hampered by a hip injury, Nick Kyrgios was forced to retire from his first-round Wimbledon match when trailing Pierre-Hugues Herbert by two sets to love.

London, UK, 3 July 2017 | Matt Trollope

Injury has cruelled Nick Kyrgios’s 2017 campaign, forcing the Aussie to retire from his first-round match on Monday.

The No.20 seed was trailing Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3 6-4 when he called for the trainer to examine his troublesome hip.

After a short consultation and some perfunctory treatment, he made the decision he couldn’t continue.

Alicia Molik, Todd Woodbridge and Nicole Pratt spoke with tennis.com.au ahead of Wimbledon about Nick Kyrgios and Ash Barty, perhaps our two most natural grasscourt talents.

London, UK, 3 July 2017 | Matt Trollope

When Nick Kyrgios and Ash Barty play back-to-back on No.3 Court on Monday at Wimbledon, Aussie tennis fans are seeing arguably the nation’s two most promising grasscourt talents in action.

Six years ago at the All England Club, a 15-year-old Barty stormed to the girls’ singles title and in 2013 reached the women’s doubles final with Casey Dellacqua. That same year, Kyrgios hoisted the boys’ doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis – having done so with Andrew Harris at the same event 12 months earlier – and in 2014 announced himself as a superstar with a stunning Centre Court defeat of world No.1 Rafael Nadal en route to the men’s singles quarterfinals.

At 22 and 21 respectively, Kyrgios and Barty are among the world’s brightest young talents and stand to make an impact at Wimbledon, where the grass rewards their weapons and style and boosts their confidence.

Former Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis has come on as a consultant coach for Thanasi Kokkinakis - and he's imploring the young South Australian to be more aggressive on grass.

London, UK, 3 July 2017 | Darren Walton (AAP)

Thanasi Kokkinakis has turned to Mark Philippoussis for added inspiration and grasscourt intellect in his concerted attempt to make a Wimbledon impact.

Australia’s one-time teenage prodigy returns to the All England Club – where he won the junior doubles crown in 2013 with Nick Kyrgios – as the world No.498 after a depressing near-two-year battle with injury.

But after taking down Milos Raonic, last year’s runner-up and world No.6 at the Queen’s Club lead-up event, Kokkinakis has suddenly re-emerged as a dangerous young talent to avoid, ahead of his first-round blockbuster with Juan Martin del Potro on Tuesday.

Into the Wimbledon main draw after three impressive comeback wins in qualifying, Victorian Andrew Whittington is looking to continue his improbable run.

London, UK, 2 July 2017 | AAP

He grew up idolising Mark Philippoussis and now Andrew Whittington is following in his one-time neighbour’s footsteps after gatecrashing Wimbledon with an improbable march through qualifying.

Unheard of outside tennis circles, Whittington’s succession of victories over higher-ranked rivals has propelled the 23-year-old into his second Grand Slam main draw of the year after reaching the second round in front of home fans at Melbourne Park.

“Everyone was ecstatic back home,” the world No.209 said ahead of his first-round date with Brazilian Thiago Monteiro on Monday.

Djokovic won Eastbourne today for his 2nd title of the year by defeating Monfils 6-3, 6-4. Regrettably, I couldn't watch the match but I followed live scores and watched the highlights.

I said in my last post that if he kept improving he should win the final and I think that is exactly what he did. Monfils is a talented player and to break him three times on grass in two sets is a good effort.

Judging from the highlights and the match stats Djokovic's returns and backhand is still in good shape while he made 72% of his first serves. Another thing that occured to me this week was his net game and he was 9/12 at the net vs Monfils.

Like Djokovic's game in general, his volleys are underrated. His backhand, movement, and returns are not underrated. Everyone knows those are world class. But I think his net game, serve, forehand, and touch is underrated.

You are not going to be an all-time great on grass like Djokovic without having some net skills. He has many strengths but his volleys are an important part of his game on grass especially. He has some pretty average overheads and he can look stupid at the net but when he plays well he can also play surprisingly well at the net.

An injury cloud continues to hover above Nick Kyrgios as the Australian No.1 and 20th seed prepares to kick off his Wimbledon campaign on Monday.

London, UK, 2 July 2017 | Matt Trollope

“It’s not great.”

That was how Nick Kyrgios assessed the hip ailment that has plagued him the past several weeks on tour.

The first signs of it appeared in Madrid, when he took a medical timeout for treatment in that area during a first-round win over Marcos Baghdatis.