Rafael Nadal was not always the big name on the ATP Tour who would go on to win 22 major titles.
Nadal won most of his majors at Roland Garros, but the US Open was his next best Grand Slam tournament.
Throughout his decorated career, Nadal would win four US Open titles with his last coming in 2019.
Despite his overall success at the tournament, Nadal’s first appearance at the US Open ended in an early exit.
Younes El Aynaoui: The first ever player to beat Rafael Nadal at the US Open
In 2003, Nadal would make his US Open debut at just 17 years old, having already impressed at the previous Grand Slam.
Nadal made his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon that year, reaching the third round, which alongside his results on the ATP and Challenger Tours helped him reach a ranking of world number 45 ahead of the US Open.
Continuing to showcase himself as an emerging young talent, Nadal would win his first round match against his fellow Spaniard Fernando Vicente in straight sets.
Nadal would then face a step up in opposition in the second round, as he faced 22nd seed Moroccan El Aynaoui, who Nadal had actually beaten on clay the previous month.
Despite putting up a good fight, El Aynaoui proved to be too much for Nadal on this occasion, as he was beaten, 7-6(6) 6-3 7-6(6).
When reflecting on his performance, Nadal admitted that there were a lot of areas he still wanted to improve in his game.
“I’m trying to improve all shots, but I want to give more strength to my power shots,” Nadal said in his post-match press conference. “I’m working on my serve and my slice backhand, which I think I need to improve a little more to be more competitive.”
El Aynaoui would use his victory over Nadal to spur him onto his second consecutive quarterfinal appearance at the US Open, before losing out to David Nalbandian.
How did Younes El Aynaoui make history in his career?
While El Aynaoui is not spoken about very often in tennis terms anymore, he is far more than just the first player to have beaten Nadal at the US Open.
In March 2003, El Aynaoui would be rewarded for back-to-back Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances with a career-high ranking of world number 14.
Not only was this the best ranking of his career, but it is still to date the highest ranking of any Moroccan tennis player in history.
El Aynaoui made even more history when many assumed he had already retired from tennis.
In 2017, a 45-year-old El Aynaoui returned to tennis on the lower-level ITF event in Manama, Bahrain, where he would come through qualifying and win his first round match.
As a result of this, El Aynaoui would earn a single ranking point to become the oldest player to have a singles ranking in ATP history.
El Aynaoui last played a professional match in 2020, but lost in the first round of qualifying at the ITF event in Poznan, Poland.
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