Younes El Aynaoui

Younes El Aynaoui
يونس العيناوي

Country (sports)	Morocco
Residence	Rabat, Morocco
Born	(1971-09-12) 12 September 1971 Rabat, Morocco
Height
Turned pro	1990
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$4,002,608
Singles
Career record	264–226
Career titles	5
Highest ranking	No. 14 (11 March 2003)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (2000, 2003)
French Open	4R (1995, 2000)
Wimbledon	3R (2000, 2001, 2003)
US Open	QF (2002, 2003)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (1992)
Doubles
Career record	24–55
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 85 (14 July 2003)

Younes El Aynaoui (Arabic: يونس العيناوي‎‎) (born 12 September 1971) is a retired professional tennis player from Morocco.

He is a five-time singles winner on the ATP Tour and reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 in March 2003, at the age of 31. His long career has been plagued by injuries and he did not play competitive tennis between September 2008 and January 2010. However, in December 2009 he scheduled to play at the ATP Champions Tour tournament in London, where he made his debut at the senior tour.

Popularity in Morocco

El Aynaoui is an extremely popular figure in Morocco. He received a gold medal – the nation's highest sporting honor – from King Mohammed VI. In a 2003 poll by leading Moroccan newspaper L'Economiste, readers named El Aynaoui their favorite role model for society, ahead of the prime minister and athletics star Hicham El Guerrouj. The center court of the Royal Tennis Club in Marrakech is named after El Aynaoui.

Tennis career

At the Bollettieri Academy

In 1990, at the age of 18, El Aynaoui traveled to Bradenton, Florida, to spend a week at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, after which he decided to turn professional. He continued to hone his skills at the academy for the next two years where, in order to afford the fees, he drove the academy bus, cleaned the gym, strung rackets, tossed practice balls to campers, and helped to babysit younger players.He also saved money in a high interest account.

First ATP singles final

In 1993, he reached his first top-level Grand Prix singles final in Casablanca, where he lost to the Argentinian player Guillermo Pérez-Roldán.

1996 to 1998

After finishing runner-up in three tour events in 1996, El Aynaoui suffered a broken right ankle. He had surgery on his ankle in November that year, but the injury continued to cause him problems. He missed seven months of the season in 1997 and had a second surgery in February 1998. He returned to the tour that summer ranked World Number 444, and enjoyed a run of strong results. He won five Challenger series tournaments and finished runner-up at one top-level event in Santiago. By the end of the year he had improved his ranking to World Number 49, and was named the ATP's Comeback Player of the Year for 1998.

1999 to 2003

In 1999, El Aynaoui won his first top-level singles title in Amsterdam and the following year he reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open where he lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikov. El Aynaoui won his second top-level title in 2001 at Bucharest. He was runner-up in Amsterdam that year, losing in the final to Àlex Corretja in a five-set, 53-game match (6–3, 5–7, 7–6, 3–6, 6–4) which was the year's longest tour final. He was also runner-up in Lyon, defeated by Ivan Ljubičić in final.

El Aynaoui captured two tour titles in 2002 (Doha and Munich), and reached the quarter-finals of the US Open. The following year, he reached the quarter-finals of the Australian and US Opens and finished the season ranked a career-high World Number 14.

Longest Grand Slam fifth set

The most famous match of El Aynaoui's career came in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 2003. In the Round of 16, El Aynaoui defeated the World No. 1, Lleyton Hewitt, 6–7, 7–6, 7–6, 6–4, in a very high quality match, thus setting up a quarter-final showdown with the up-and-coming American Andy Roddick (who would reach the World No. 1 ranking later that year). The five-set, five-hour match included the then longest fifth set in Grand Slam tennis history (since surpassed by the marathon Wimbledon 2010 match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut). Roddick won the battle 4–6, 7–6, 4–6, 6–4, 21–19. Both players saved match points before the fifth set ended.

Return to ATP Tour in 2007

After a three-year hiatus due to injury, El Aynaoui made a comeback to the ATP tour in January 2007, and was awarded a wildcard at the Qatar Open, Doha. He beat former Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson with two tie-breaks in the first round, but was defeated 6–3 6–4 in the second round by the then World Number 5 and eventual winner Ivan Ljubičić.

Another comeback attempt in 2008

In March 2008, after a seven-month lay-off due to injuries, he won a Futures event in Castelldefels, Spain on clay, and in April he won a challenger event in Chiasso, Switzerland. In May, he reached the semi-finals of the BMW Open in Munich. He was oldest player to reach the semi-finals of an ATP Tour level event since Jimmy Connors in 1993. He also reached the quarter-finals of the Casablanca Open in Morocco, retiring to Juan Mónaco due to an injury in his left calf.

ATP Champions Tour (2009)

El Aynaoui made his debut as a wild card at the senior tour in London, the last stop on the tour, joining Stefan Edberg, Patrick Rafter, Cédric Pioline, Pat Cash, Goran Ivanišević, Mark Philippoussis and Greg Rusedski. He won two matches, against Rusedski and Philippoussis.

2010 comeback

In the 2010 Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, Qatar, El Aynaoui received a wildcard to participate in the tournament.

He played American Ryler DeHeart in the first round of this tournament and won 7–6 7–6, thus becoming at age 38 the oldest player to win a main tour ATP match since Jimmy Connors in 1995. However, El Aynaoui's run came to an end when he was defeated 6–3, 6–1 by Belgian Steve Darcis.

Singles titles (5)

Legend (Singles)

Grand Slam (0)

Tennis Masters Cup (0)

ATP Masters Series (0)

ATP Tour (5)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	2 August 1999	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Clay	Mariano Zabaleta	6–0, 6–3
Winner	2.	10 September 2001	Bucharest, Romania	Clay	Albert Montanes	7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–2)
Winner	3.	31 December 2001	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Felix Mantilla	4–6, 6–2, 6–2
Winner	4.	8 April 2002	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	Guillermo Canas	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Winner	5.	29 April 2002	Munich, Germany	Clay	Rainer Schüttler	6–4, 6–4

Singles performance timeline

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Career SR
Grand Slams
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	A	A	A	2R	QF	1R	3R	QF	1R	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 8
French Open	A	A	A	A	1R	4R	1R	A	A	2R	4R	2R	2R	3R	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 8
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	A	A	2R	3R	3R	1R	3R	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 7
U.S. Open	A	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	A	A	2R	1R	1R	QF	QF	1R	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 9
Grand Slam SR	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 4	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 32
Year End Ranking	351	570	311	51	117	110	70	237	45	33	25	38	22	14	644	228	189	167	201	–	N/A

A = did not attend tournament

External links

• Younes El Aynaoui at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Younes El Aynaoui at the Davis Cup
• Official website