Nov. 26, 2012

OXFORD, Miss.  - Karim Hossam, one of the world's top junior players, has signed a 2013-14 National Letter of Intent and plans on joining the Rebels for the upcoming spring semester.

Hossam, a native of Cairo, Egypt, owns a career-high ranking of No. 11 in the ITF World Junior Rankings.  He has participated in all four grand slams, reaching the quarterfinals of the 2011 U.S. Open Junior Championships and the round of 16 at the 2012 Australian Open Juniors.

In spring 2012, Hossam won the ITF African Closed Junior 18 and under Championship in both singles and doubles.  He presently has an ATP Ranking of No. 1223 in singles.

"We are very excited about Karim joining our team in January," head coach Billy Chadwick said. "His experience and success of playing on the highest level of ITF junior tennis around the world makes him one of the top NCAA recruits.  Karim has an edge over many international players as he has trained extensively in the U.S. and has proven to be very good on the hardcourts.  Karim is physically very strong, with a big serve and a powerful groundstroke game."   

Hossam is coached in Egypt by Karim Zaher, who played collegiate tennis at Alabama.  In the United States, Hossam trains at the Advantage Tennis Academy in California, directed by Jimmy Johnson.  He is under the guidance of Mahmoud Karim, one of the co-founders of the academy.

"Our team has worked really hard this fall and top to bottom has shown great improvement.  With the addition of a player of Karim's caliber, it puts us that much closer to our goal of winning a championship," Chadwick said.

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