It would be a challenge to find anyone with a bad word to say about Younes El Aynaoui. Now we know why. We had the pleasure of chatting with the world?s 22nd ranked player in Montreal after his first round win over Mardy Fish at the Tennis Masters Canada.

One of the nicest guys on the tour, and a fixture on the tennis stage for over a decade, the 31-year-old from Rabat was relatively unknown to all but the most devoted tennis fans until a fateful day in Melbourne, in January, 2003. On that day El Aynaoui and Andy Roddick waged a celebrated marathon that will go in the tennis annals, won by Roddick, 4-6, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4, 21-19. El Aynaoui has had a good career, with a career high ranking of 15. But as a result of this one match, the bushy-haired Morocca n became belatedly famous after years of relative obscurity.

?It?s funny. I?ve been on the tour since 1990, and a lot of people still didn?t know me. After the Roddick match in Australia they were saying, ?Oh, who is this young Moroccan??? recalled El Aynaoui with a laugh. ?I?m closer to being retired than young, you know! But it was super. The people appreciated a match like that, and even today people come up and congratulate me, even here in Montreal this week. That warms my heart. The people discovered me and now they recognize me, even if they still mistak e me for James Blake from time to time! It was a great memory, to play a match like that in a Grand Slam quarterfinal. I may never have a moment like that again in my career.?

Since the memorable fortnight in Melbourne, where El Aynaoui also upset then-number one Lleyton Hewitt, El Aynaoui has had a solid year, with a fourth round at Wimbledon and a quarterfinal at the Masters Series in Miami as well as a final in Casablanca. His only dry spell came on the European clay. ?I usually start well every year. Two years ago I won Doha, was number one in the Race. And this year I started really well in Australia. But as the years go, I?m feeling not very comfortable on clay. Tha t was my favourite surface, but for the last two or three years I haven?t played well on the clay, and unfortunately I didn?t win many matches. But on the grass I was happy with my play. I played quarterfinal in Halle, and lost to Andre in fourth round at Wimbledon. I?m number 22 in the Race, so I?m happy with my season until now. ?

Younes is happy to be back on hard courts, and is hoping to end the season with a flourish. ?I really think my best surface is hard court. And I?m doing better indoors, so I?ll try to win a few matches there.?

El Aynaoui was the first of a trio of fine players -- Karim Alami and Hicham Arazi are the others -- who emerged from Morocco in the 1990s. According to El Aynaoui, the sudden appearance of Moroccans on the tour was not the result of any careful planning. ?We all came along independently. Karim Alami was in Casablanca, I was in Rabat, Hicham was in Paris. So it?s more or less by chance that we all came along at about the same time.?

Despite the lack of a tennis tradition in Morocco, El Aynaoui told us that the sport has been popular in his country for some time. ?We had some good players in Morocco, but it?s true there were never any players at a professional level. But Moroccans know tennis. We have an a ATP tournament there since, I believe, 1987, in Casablanca. I think what really turned me on to the sport was when Yannick Noah won the Roland Garros final in 1983. And we always had chances to see the great players. Even before we had the ATP tournament we had exhibitions. In Rabat, where I grew up, I remember seeing [Guillermo] Vilas, [Miloslav] Mecir, [Henri] Leconte, [Yannick] Noah, and players like that.?

Impressed by these foreign stars, the young Younes made the decision to pursue a tennis career. ?My parents didn?t push me into the sport, on the contrary! They were always, ?You have to finish school,? and so on.?

Despite the success of El Aynaoui, Alami and Arazi on tour during the past decade, Younes is sad to see that there is no reserve of Moroccan prospects to take their place. ?There are a lot of young kids who want to play tennis. A lot. Because of our results and what we are doing in Davis Cup, they are very motivated, but there?s no real structure to help them. There?s only so much we can do, because we are concentrating for now on our careers and our results. But it?s something I would like to do lat er. I?d like to return to Morocco some day and with the experiences I?ve had, help the young Moroccans who would like to become pros.?

El Aynaoui expanded on the structural problems that hinder the development of young players in his homeland, a subject near to his heart.

?There are a lot of clubs, but the Moroccan tennis federation doesn?t really have a training structure to train professional players. Morocco has a perfect climate, you can play year round, so there?s no problem there. What we need is more courts, with different surfaces, available to everyone. Today, tennis in Morocco is reserved for the rich. If you don?t have parents with enough money to enroll you in a club, you can?t play tennis. It?s like it was in Europe 20 or 30 years ago, when tennis was a pastime for the upper classes.

?We?re trying to get courts built. I have an association that?s trying to do things like that, building public courts, so that the kids can play tennis. But even then, the equipment is very expensive, the rackets and balls cost a lot of money. That?s a big problem too. But I hope we can get something done. Not just to develop professional players, but because tennis is such a healthy pastime and can give kids an alternative to drugs, delinquency, etcetera.?

The interview ended and we wished El Aynaoui, a veteran who shows no signs of slowing down, good luck. Our colleague from Radio-Canada said, ?I guess retirement is not around the corner for you!? The congenial Moroccan just smiled and whacked him playfully on the arm as he ambled off.