Rafael Nadal Honors Former Tennis Star Karim Alami After Tragic Loss of Son

10 September 2019 – byBladi.net · 1 min read

Spaniard Rafael Nadal expressed his compassion for former Moroccan tennis player Karim Alami, following the death of his son in an accident in Bali two weeks ago. The world’s number 2 tennis player had this little thought for his friend during his victory speech at the US Open in the early hours of Monday, September 9.

Faced with the painful ordeal his Moroccan friend, former tennis player Karim Alami, is going through, Rafael Nadal was generous with words of compassion. He wanted to express his closeness to the great friend that Alami remains for him.

"I would like to mention a terrible event that happened to one of our own a few weeks ago, Karim Alami. He tragically lost his son. Alami is a friend and he was a great tennis player. I have strong thoughts for him and his whole family. I wish them all the best."

For this challenge, Rafael Nadal had to play for nearly 5 hours to overcome the heroic resistance of his challenger, Daniil Medvedev (7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4), to win his 4th US Open and 19th Grand Slam title, one behind Roger Federer’s record.

The world number 2, in doing so, is approaching the feat of John McEnroe at Flushing Meadows, with his 4 titles, and is positioning himself for a record trophy of the modern era (from 1968) held by Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors.