It was the epic everyone hoped for.

On Thursday night, Roger Federer and Gael Monfils played a five-set masterpiece in New York, doing what no other sport, athlete or television show has done in the past two decades: Upstage the NFL. (Someone predicted that, I think.)

While the opening night of football’s 2014 season was happening in Seattle, Federer and Monfils were stealing the headlines 2,500 miles away, playing a wild U.S. Open classic in which Monfils stormed to a two-set lead, dropped the third, had match points in the fourth and ultimately succumbed to Federer dominance and his own fragile tennis psyche in the fifth, capping a quarterfinal thriller that will go down in the annals of Grand Slam history.

Never did I think I'd be watching tennis on opening night for the NFL, but Fed has sucked me in. So much heart. — Jeff Eisenberg (@JeffEisenberg) September 5, 2014

Monfils had two match points on Federer’s serve at 5-4 in the fourth, but he sailed a backhand long at 15-40, then saw Federer hit a down-the-line forehand winner at 30-40. At 5-5, Federer fought back to deuce. Monfils promptly double-faulted twice, handing Federer the game and, essentially, the match. The fifth set was all but a formality. Federer broke in Monfils’ first service game and didn’t let his foot off of the gas.

Doug Robson of USA TODAY Sports summed up Monfils’ fifth-set mindset the best:

Monfils is starting to play like a man who doesn’t believe he can win — cutesy. #usopen — Douglas Robson (@dougrobson) September 5, 2014

It hadn’t been that way for most of the match. The Frenchman was in a zone early and had Federer on the ropes. He had him! Monfils took a two-set lead with quickness, efficiency and ease. What was most amazing about that early lead wasn’t that Monfils had it — he hadn’t dropped a set all tournament and had been playing the best tennis of his life. No, the shock was that Monfils had a two-set lead and wasn’t even playing all that well.

Federer was gift-wrapping him one service game per set and Monfils took advantage. The Gael of old might have failed to consolidate those breaks or lost momentum when he attempted to hit a frivolous circus shot. The Gael Monfils of the 2014 U.S. Open did no such thing.

I mean, look. Props to Monfils for trying so hard to win that fourth set. That was a lot of fun. He went all in and busted. It’s ok. Happens — Courtney Nguyen (@FortyDeuceTwits) September 5, 2014

It’s no stain on Monfils’ character that Federer won the third. No one thought it’d be that easy. Monfils had a mini-comeback on his own in the fourth, when Federer again broke early and a fifth-set felt imminent. But this time, Monfils broke right back and the pair held serve, with the match-point drama added in. Then came the fateful 5-5 game. Monfils, still reeling from the match points, was in control before Federer fought back to deuce. Double fault. Double fault. They both came out of nowhere, yet felt like an eerie inevitability. The whole match was spent waiting for Monfils to, for lack of a better term, be Monfils. It took until the 10th game of the fourth set.

The fifth was one-way traffic. The same thing happened to Monfils in a French Open quarterfinal against Andy Murray. In that match, he was the one coming back from two sets down, until he bizarrely folded to lose the final set 6-0, in front of his own French fans no less.

This was a different sort of disappointment. In Paris, Monfils spent all his energy getting to that fifth set and essentially gave up. In New York, he had spent all his emotion and had nothing left to give.

The result is a disappointment for the Frenchman but the tournament, and even the night, shouldn’t be. He played stellar, focused tennis for four matches and four sets. He demonstrated that he has the talent and poise to compete, and win, Slams.

For Federer, it’s one of the gutsiest comebacks on his career. On the sport’s biggest stage against an opponent with no fear, Federer stormed back, saved match points and hung on to win the match. Even at 33, he’s not done showing us something new.