Black Tennis Pros

Heartbreaking scene in New York as Felix Auger-Aliassime retires after heart issues at the #USOpen.

Starts to cry as he comes together at the net with his Canadian friend and teammate, @denis_shapo pic.twitter.com/Ik4wc3FQCM

— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) August 27, 2018

After having a trainer visit two games into the third set of  the 2018 U.S. Open first round, eighteen-year-old Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime worked the court slower and slower and eventually retired from the match against his close friend and fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

Shapovalov came over to his teary-eyed friend and provided very admirable support. Courtside microphones picked up Auger-Aliassime telling Shapovalov: “My team said it’s just not worth it.”

 “What me and Felix have is truly incredible,” Shapovalov said. “It’s truly making the sport bigger in our country, and hopefully we continue to do that.”

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Moroccan tennis legend Younes El Aynaoui will announce his retirement in Doha after taking one last shot at the ExxonMobilQatarOpen, which he had won in 2002.

El Aynaoui, the most successful player of Arab descent in history, has been given a wildcard by the Qatar Tennis Federation so that he can bow out of the game at one of his favourite venues.

“Younes asked for a wildcard because he wants to retire in Doha. The Khalifa Tennis Complex is one of his favourite venues, and he thought it would be apt for him to call it quits at a place which is very close to his heart,” tournament director Karim Alami told the Gulf Times yesterday.

El Aynaoui, who has won singles titles on the ATP Tour, has had a chequered career. He had to endure long spells of inaction because of several injuries and has not played top-level tennis since September 2008.

“He has been unlucky to suffer many injuries, but he is very fit now and you never know what he is capable of,” Alami, a fellow Moroccan, added.

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 that year, he reached the semi-finals of the BMW Open in Munich to become the 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, but retired due to an injury in his left calf. Those were the last two ATP tournaments he ever played.

El Aynaoui is an extremely popular figure in Morocco where he received the country’s highest sporting honour 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 centre court of the Royal Tennis Club in Marrakech is named after El Aynaoui.

El Ayanoui’s matches in Doha always drew packed houses, which even players such as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal cannot boast of.

Meanwhile, the draw for the QatarExxonMobilOpen beginning tomorrow was held yesterday with World No.1 Roger Federer and World No.2 playing Belgian Christophe Rochus and Italian Simone Bolelli respectively in the first round.

World No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko and El Aynaoui will take on qualifiers.

Nadal and Federer are scheduled to arrive in Doha today after playing an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi.

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I'm probably late on finding this out, but my favorite Russian dish of tennis player is currently playing his last season on the ATP Tour. Twenty-eight year old Marat Safin says that he's had enough stress.

I've always enjoyed watching Safin play, you never quite knew what to expect. When he's on, he's on, and vice versa. A lot of players I probably wouldn't even notice if they left, but Safin...this guy I'll miss.

Here's some of what Safin had to say regarding his impending retirement:

"I don't want to get stressed, I don't want to plan anything," he said.

"I want to play and be relaxed, no stress. Whatever comes, comes.

"It's great for me. Just try to be in shape, be able to run around the court. Like this it's much easier to play tennis.

"At least I want to enjoy it. I don't want to suffer anymore, I don't want to get stressed, I don't want to feel bad on the court anymore."

"It's not easy because you're under continuous tennis pressure, which is traveling around the world, practising every day, be in shape, try to be a little bit more responsible what you're doing outside the court," he said.

"It's getting tougher and tougher with the age, especially with the injuries I've had throughout the years.

"It's not an easy game, let's put it this way, especially if half of the time you've been injured."

"When you are young, 20 years old, 19 years old, you're coming, everything is new, it's exciting to come and play the big matches," he said.

"With the years, you start to feel the pressure.

"A little bit you start to be unsure in certain moments of the match, hit it down the line or play a little bit cross-court.

"So you start to feel a little bit uncomfortable on the court, and this is what makes you have doubts.

"Eventually it comes to the errors. The young boys are not scared anymore. They will eventually be scared with the years, but it's tough to play against them in such conditions."

But when asked about when he would eventually walk away, as he has previously indicated, Safin would not be drawn.

"No, I'm enjoying it, it's just a different way of enjoying myself," he said.

"(But) you need to keep yourself fully committed to the tennis -- it's getting tougher and tougher."

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