Younes El Anyaoui

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. The most famous match of El Aynaoui's career came at the Australian Open in 2003. He qualified for the match by defeating World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in four sets in the fourth round, thus setting-up a quarter-final showdown with the up-and-coming American Andy Roddick (who would go on reach the World No. 1 ranking later that year). The five-set, five-hour match included the longest fifth-set in Grand Slam tennis history. Roddick eventually won the titanic battle 4-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, 21-19. Both players saved match points against them before the marathon fifth-set finally concluded. El Aynaoui also reached the quarter-finals of the US Open that year, and finished the season ranked a career-high World No. 14.