Kareem Al Allaf
Kareem Al Allaf is an American tennis player and tennis coach of Syrian descent. He holds the all-time wins record for singles and doubles combined in college tennis at the University of Iowa.
Allaf has a career-high ATP singles ranking of 751, achieved on May 22, 2023. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of 704, achieved on August 21, 2023. He was also a doubles champion at the ITF World Tennis Tour in the summer of 2019.
Allaf represented the Syria [Davis Cup team] at the Davis Cup, where he played #1 singles and had a W/L record of 18–9 in 2015–21. However, the Syrian Tennis Federation banned him because he competed in a match against an Israeli opponent in a tournament in Arkansas in 2022. Consequently, he switched nationalities to represent his birth country, the United States.
Early life
Allaf was born in Des Moines, Iowa. His father is Syrian. He won one ITF Junior title in singles competition,College career
Allaf graduated from the University of Iowa in 2020 with a degree in Enterprise Leadership and a minor in Communications, before earning a masters in 2022 in Sports and Recreational Management. He holds the all-time wins record for singles and doubles combined in college tennis at the University of Iowa with 164 combined wins for the Hawkeyes, for whom he played from 2016–21.He won 95 career singles matches and 69 career doubles matches. His 22 doubles victories as a sophomore in 2018 are third on Iowa’s single-season wins list, and his 23 singles victories during his freshman year in 2017 tied for the 11th-most in a single season in the university's history. In 2018, Allaf became the third player in program history to win the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Regional Singles Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2019, he qualified for the ITA Main Draw, and became only the second player from the university to accomplish the feat. In 2020 he was named first-team All-Big Ten, ITA Central Region Senior Player of the Year, and ITA Central Region Most Improved Senior. Allaf earned three All-Big Ten honors.
Professional career
Allaf has a career-high ATP singles ranking of 751, achieved on May 22, 2023. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of 704, achieved on August 21, 2023. He was also a doubles champion at the ITF World Tennis Tour in the summer of 2019.Davis Cup; ban by Syria
Allaf represented the Syria Davis Cup team at the Davis Cup, where he played #1 singles and had a W/L record of 18–9 in 2015–21.The Syrian Tennis Federation banned him, because he competed in a match against an Israeli opponent in a 2022 ITF Men's World Tennis Tour tournament in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in November 2022. Allaf said:
"I respect everyone equally... Hopefully this doesn't happen again to other athletes from Arab countries.. I think the ITF should get involved in this... It should never happen again."Egyptian journalist Reem Abulleil wrote on Twitter: "Syrian tennis player @KareemAllaf played against and defeated Israeli player Nitzan Ricklis last week in a $15k in Fayetteville, Arkansas. As a response, the Syrian Tennis Federation has banned him. Hope @ITFTennis do something. This nonsense has got to stop."
As a result of the Syrian federation's ban, Allaf switched nationalities to represent his birth country, the United States.