By Jake Markowitz
During this past summer, it became clear that a high-impact player was about to be added to the Iowa men’s tennis team in the spring season.
Redshirted in his first year, Kareem Allaf took to the summer matches with a vengeance, finishing in the semifinals of singles play at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Summer Championships and reaching the quarterfinals with doubles partner junior Jake Jacoby. Allaf proved to the team he was ready to compete in the spring.
“Kareem is a guy that we really look forward to winning a lot of matches for us,” head coach Ross Wilson said in the fall.
He was right.
Wilson placed Allaf in the No. 3 spot for singles, and he shot out of the gate, posting a 7-2 record in that spot to kick off his first spring season. Eventually, Wilson saw enough and decided it was time to move Allaf up.
“Kareem had played really well at the No. 3 position [in] singles,” Wilson said. “I felt he earned an opportunity to play higher in the lineup.”
At the USD/SDSU Invitational, Allaf began his rise. Wilson placed Allaf at No. 2 against a nationally ranked Oregon squad that had won six of its last seven coming into the eight-team tournament.
Allaf did not disappoint his coach or his teammates. He was up match point against junior Simon Stevens before the match was called off; the Ducks had already clinched the victory. His rise continued the following day.
In the third-place match, Allaf was slotted in as the No. 1 singles player for the Hawkeyes. His opponent was No. 55 Filip Vittek. The national ranking did not faze Allaf, going back and forth with the senior before eventually falling in a hard-fought third set.
“I think my coaches have seen the competitiveness in me,” Allaf said. “I bring it to every match and compete as hard as possible.”
While competitiveness has always been one of his strengths, consistency has not.
In the fall season, Allaf’s performances would range from dominating four-straight matches in the regional championships to falling in straight sets at the Battle in the Bay, hosted by San Francisco.
However, over the course of the spring season, consistent play has become part of Allaf’s game, which he attributes to his movement in singles.
“Consistency was definitely a problem for me at the beginning of the season, where I would play one good match and then one bad match,” Allaf said. “Recently, I have been able to play at a high level consistently. Coach Wilson always reminds me, and it has become a habit.”
The consistency has added to the confidence Allaf has in his game, and his teammates have noticed.
“He is someone who truly believes in himself and wants on-court success very badly,” freshman Jason Kerst said. “It’s nice to have teammates who are very confident and think about their tennis and goals in the long run.”
Allaf’s goals, however, are not to merely climb up in singles. The fiery juices in him have his mind on one thing.
“Winning,” Allaf said. “Where I play is not my biggest concern. Winning the match is.”
