Open Goal: Part II - Younes El Aynaoui
Over the next six weeks, the top ATP pros will be traversing the well-travelled highway to the US Open, criss-crossing the US Open series events and – this year – the Olympics in Beijing. But for some, injuries and illness means having to go through the side streets of qualifying and challenger events. Here are three players who have been on an exceptionally hard road.
By Ravi Ubha
Younes El Aynaoui Perhaps rightfully, more than a few fans must have thought Younes El Aynaoui's return to the tour was simply part of an extended farewell. Not so. Instead of lounging at home with his wife and three kids enjoying the fruits of his 18-year career, the graceful Moroccan, nearing 37, is kicking around the challenger circuit, hoping to land a spot in the main draw at the U.S. Open in August and re-enter the top 100.
El Aynaoui, hampered by injuries to both wrists the last two years, is slowly making progress towards that goal. He's now No. 163, having climbed more than 130 spots in the past two months by winning two minor league events and making an impact at two ATP-level tournaments –getting to the quarterfinals of Casablanca and the semifinals of Munich. His run in Munich made the oldest player to make the last four of an ATP tournament since a 40-year-old Jimmy Connors did it in 1993.
With the cutoff for entries into the US Open taking place next week, he won’t get straight into the main draw but has given himself enough of a cushion to ensure he’ll have a chance to qualify for the event no matter what his results in the next few weeks.
If he does make it to Flushing Meadows, be sure that the crowds on the outside courts will rally behind El Aynaoui just like the Louis Armstrong crowds did for Connors against Aaron Krickstein in 1991.
El Aynaoui has climbed back up the hard way, not benefiting from a slew of wildcards. Not only does he have a rags-to-riches story – he took a job at Nick Bollettieri's famed Bradenton academy as a teen doing pretty much anything to pay for his tennis tutelage –he is forever etched into the minds of aficionados for taking part in one of the sport’s legendary matches. In the 2003 Australian Open quarterfinals, El Aynaoui and Andy Roddick played the highest number of games ever contested in a fifth set in Grand Slam history before Roddick, Connors's former pupil, edged through with a 21-19 win.
“When you're a competitor, that's what you love, playing matches and feeling that tension again, those crucial points,'' El Aynaoui said in an interview last month. He spoke in perfect English, one of six languages he converses in.
“I remember that match against Andy. That will forever stand in my mind. I'm looking forward to those moments, and that's why I'm still playing. The bigger tournaments you play, the bigger rush you get.”Safe to say, then, a $10,000 futures tournament in Castelldefels, Spain in March, near his base in Barcelona, didn't compare to a Grand Slam. Still, El Aynaoui decided to enter qualifying, won three matches, then another five in his first pro appearance in more than six months. Despite having to play a few three-setters, his body held up.
A month later, the winning streak continued at a $50,000 challenger in Chiasso, Switzerland. El Aynaoui topped three higher-ranked players who ended up in the main draw at the French Open.
Then came Munich, which had once been the site of one of his five career titles. Now playing as a qualifier, El Aynaoui disposed of the improving Belgian Steve Darcis and young prospect Juan Martin Del Potro en route to the semis, losing to eventual champion Fernando Gonzalez in three sets.
"It's going to be kind of interesting for so many youngsters on the tour to see an old man," Bollettieri said about his former pupil. "If you talk about 18, 19, 20 [year olds], he's double their age, so what's important here is believing he can still do it."
El Aynaoui was knocked out in the second round at challengers in the Czech Republic and Bordeaux, although his experience in France was memorable. He was one of those forced to scurry out of his hotel when fire ravaged the room of rising Argentine Eduardo Schwank. It brought back unwelcome memories: four years ago he was in Rome when a hotel fire killed three people during the Rome Masters.
El Aynaoui, who pursued tennis against his father's wishes, also surpassed the $4 million mark in career prize money. “I would never think before it all started that I could be able to do such a thing, especially, when I was half training and half teaching in Bradenton,'' El Aynaoui said.
He received a wildcard into his home event in Casablanca, but a calf injury forced him to miss his quarterfinal. He has won one match at the two challenger events he’s contested since then.
But El Aynaoui used to dealing with injuries. Besides the wrist, he broke his ankle in 1996 and then suffered a foot injury that kept him out for most of 2004, just months after he reached a career-high ranking of 14th. Rehabbing from his wrist malaise, he never thought of quitting and continued to work on his fitness.
“I think if I would have had a chance to play 15 years, full seasons without injury, maybe today I would be tired,'' El Aynaoui said.
“But I've been forced so many times to stay away from a tennis court because of an injury, it gave me a little frustration. I always wanted to come back and not leave the tour like this with an injury. The wrist is holding good, so hopefully I'll stay away from the injuries.”If all goes well, El Aynaoui hopes to play in some tournaments during the U.S. Open Series, which kicks off next week. (He's been unsuccessful so far in his attempt to lure countryman Hicham Arazi, 34, back to the circuit. The talented lefty last played in March 2007.)
Bollettieri, who watched protégé Andre Agassi compete into his mid 30s, called El Aynaoui ``an inspiration.'' He drove the bus, monitored kids, and cleaned whatever needed cleaning in order to stay at the academy.
“If you check his work ethic since the time he was here, that puts him in a very special class,” Bollettieri said.
“He became an excellent tennis player because of his mentality and love for the game. We go back to when Connors won that great match against Krickstein. We're talking 39 years old, only a few people can do this and a lot of it comes from inside, which you cannot teach at all. He's so passionate and dedicated, and he's lived a good, clean life.”http://www.tennis.com
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