French Tennis Star Hugo Gaston Teams Up with Moroccan Legend Younes El Aynaoui for Clay Court Season

"He is a legend of Moroccan tennis, African tennis and tennis in general, so it’s good to have his advice," Gaston told ATPTour.com at the Mutua Madrid Open. "He knows tennis, for sure, he was at the top for 20 years. He’s a good guy, a good player and a good coach. I’m happy to work with him."

Gaston and El Aynaoui started working together at the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, where Gaston won his first Tour-level victory of the 2023 season against Jan-Lennard Struff. The world No. 106 is convinced that more time spent with the five-time ATP Tour champion can only strengthen his attempt to climb back up the Pepperstone ATP rankings.

"Our relationship is quite good for the moment, we’ll continue until Roland-Garros, then we’ll see, but there’s no reason to stop," said Gaston, who defeated his compatriot Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 in Madrid on Wednesday to reach the second round. "We have a very good relationship. I feel good with him, I think he feels good with me too, so it’s good and we can see what we can do."

The Frenchman hopes to continue his momentum when he faces 17th seed Borna Coric in the ATP Masters 1000 clay-court event in Madrid. The former world No. 58 can also rely on his recent success on the ATP Challenger circuit for his confidence: he holds an 8-3 record at that level this year, with a run to a clay-court final in Vina del Mar, Chile.