The clay court season (April to June) in men’s tennis has started with ATP 250 tournaments (smaller tournaments) this week in Houston, Texas, in Bucharest, Romania, and in Marrakech, Morocco.
Here is Nuno Borges (28, 
) being interviewed after beating the Belgian Raphaël Collignon (23, 
) in a closely fought match on the red clay in Marrakech. It ended in a third set tie-break in which Borges iced out Collignon 7-0, though.
Afterwards the announcer addressed the remaining spectators in French.
A bit of history [from Wikipedia]: The French conquest of Morocco began with the French Republic occupying the city of Oujda on 29 March 1907. The French launched campaigns against the Sultanate of Morocco which culminated in the signing of the Treaty of Fes and establishment of the French Protectorate in Morocco on 30 March 1912.
There is a 1977 song by Mike Batt, The Ride to Agadir, from the album Schizophonia, about the Rif War— an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by France in 1924) and the Berber (Amazigh) tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco.
I must have played The Ride to Agadir a hundred times or more, while driving in my car in the late 80s and early 90s.
Lyrics: The Ride to Agadir
We rode in the morning
Casablanca to the west
On the Atlas mountain foothills leading down to Marrakesh
For Mohammed and Morocco
We had taken up our guns
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
In the dry winds of summer
We were sharpening the blades
We were riding to act upon the promise we had made
With the fist and the dagger
With the rifle and the lance
We will suffer no intrusion from the infidels of France
We will suffer no intrusion from the infidels of France
We could wait no more
In the burning sands on the ride to Agadir
Like the dogs of war
For the future of this land on the ride to Agadir
Though they were waiting
And they were fifty to our ten
They were easily outnumbered by a smaller force of men
As the darkness was falling
They were soon to realize
We were going to relieve them of their godforsaken lives
We were going to relieve them of their godforsaken lives
We could wait no more
In the burning sands on the ride to Agadir
Like the dogs of war
For the future of this land on the ride to Agadir
We rode in the morning
Casablanca to the west
On the Atlas mountain foothills leading down to Marrakesh
For Mohammed and Morocco
We had taken up our guns
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
For the ashes of our fathers and the children of our sons
) is not playing— he is serving out a controversial 3-month suspension from tennis for a failed doping test (it’s complicated).
) took out Alexander Zverev (27, 
) 4-6 7-6 7-6.
) will play his first match tomorrow.
) is back and is probably the other favorite to win this year.
) from Bosnia-Herzegovina playing against Frances Tiafoe (27, 
). Tiafoe looked like he would lose the first set, but came from behind to take it 7-6. And after being behind 1-5 in the second set, he took that set in a tie-breaker as well. 
.. thought about it as I walked, feeling my mind reach for it, only to have it slip away. I refused to look it up, got home and sat at the kitchen counter, and doodled a few words on paper: water polo .. hockey .. fuss ball .. foley .. polo .. lacrosse! got it 
.
and Pakistan 
.
) bid the crowd a tearful good-bye after his 7-6, 2-6, 2-6, 1-6 loss against Gael Monfils (37, 
) on Monday. He will be playing his last tournament in Buenos Aires in February.
) qualified for the main draw with a good win over Jesper de Jong (24, 
9.79
).
