Tennis: Masterstroke that decided agonising epic

MELBOURNE - At 19-all in the fifth set of an epic Australian Open quarter-final, Andy Roddick sent a ball boy out to take the serve from Younes El Aynaoui.

As a piece of gamesmanship it was perfect, if not, as Roddick says, meant that way.

He got a breather by playing for laughs and threw his opponent out of his narrow, mechanical, mindset.

The Moroccan could have made a fuss and demanded Roddick return to his post. But he played along and sent a ball boy of his own for a quick hit around.

The incident broke an agonisingly tense situation and El Aynaoui lost his serve and then the match 21-19 in the longest fifth set in the Open era of Grand Slams.

For a 20-year-old striving for his first Grand Slam semifinal, it proved a masterstroke by Roddick, not that he was claiming that afterward.

And El Aynaoui, perhaps the most amiable person to ever play in a Grand Slam quarter-final, gave Roddick the benefit of the doubt.

"It was just before my serve, but I don't think he did it to [unsettle me]," El Aynaoui said.

"For sure, I got broken right after that. Maybe I lost my concentration a little bit. But this is part of the game. I was not serving that well at the end, not so many first serves, so I felt he had the chance to break me."

When Roddick handed his racket to a ball boy and leant against the wall to gulp deep breaths, it was a decisive play in an incredible drama.

"I was the one who bailed first and handed my racket to the ball kid," Roddick said.

"I thought that was a really cool moment, though. Whatever crazy number we were at ... but we can still keep some humour about the game."

Both players grew in the hearts of Australian fans as their final set stretched two hours and 23 minutes, and the match went four hours and 59 minutes in total.

El Aynaoui was unknown to all but the diehard tennis supporters before the tournament and he said his run in Melbourne, which included a defeat of home favourite Lleyton Hewitt, had finally made a name for him.

Shaking his dreadlocked hair, he laughed, "Maybe it means people won't take me for [American] James Blake anymore."

There's no doubt he will find himself more famous at home, too.

He spoke to his wife, Anne Sophie, and his parents immediately after the match, which was broadcast live on Moroccan national television.

"They stayed five hours in front of the television. I think they were more tired than I was," he joked.

"I think people understood that I gave everything and tried my best, but at the end you have to have a winner and loser, and this time it didn't go for me."

Both players were willed on by an almost 15,000-strong crowd, and that, said El Aynaoui, was the one thing he would always remember about the match, not the weak forehand volley which lost the day.

"No, I think the audience, the crowd. Everybody stayed until the end, five hours. They were not with Andy or with me, they were just enjoying the match. That's terrific for us."

At 31, El Aynaoui had 11 years on Roddick, yet stuck with him to the end. It was a contest decided by quality play, where both players had more than 100 winners and kept their errors down.

"I thought I had a great opportunity to go in the semifinals," El Aynaoui said. "I know my condition is good. I thought he might get a little tired, but he kept his level during the whole match."

Respect ran both ways.

"I think my respect levels for him just grew and grew throughout this match and I'm sure it's vice versa," Roddick said.

"I don't even remember ever talking to Younes before this match. But we could see each other 10 years down the line and know we did share something pretty special."

In Rabat, Moroccan Tennis Federation president Mohamed Mjid paid tribute to El Aynaoui's struggle as "a triumph for Moroccan sport."

"It wasn't at all easy for Younes to manage the age difference and hold out for more than five hours while behaving like a lord on the court," Mjid said.

"World tennis also comes out a winner from this wonderful match, the best of the season with all its intensity, the speed of the ball and the amount of stress that both players coped with admirably."

Mjid described the applause as "a torrent of the most flattering praise for Moroccan sport."

- AGENCIES