Almost 39 years and still not tired:”If I would stop tomorrow, I would not know anything about myself,”says Ivo Karlovic. The impact giant was defeated by Andreas Seppi in Melbourne despite 52 aces.
When the tennis world looked to Milan last November to watch the new show tournament of the young savages, Ivo Karlovic quickly joined them again. For his 122,000 Twitter disciples, he had a seemingly sad message:”Sorry I can’t make it to the next-generation finale. I have an ankle injury.”
It was the usual laconic humour of the 2.11 metre giant, who is by no means one of the young hopefuls of the travelling circus. It’s the methuselah of the industry. By the end of February 2018, the giant, the true lord of the aces, will be 39 years old. But the rogue, the oldest Grand Slam player of the present day, has not had enough, for a good as well as perhaps frustrating reason:”If I stopped tomorrow, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself”.
So Karlovic, whom they like to call Doctor Hammer in the world of tennis, simply carries on. He plays and plays and plays. And he hits aces and aces and aces and aces. At the Australian Open in Melbourne on Friday, the skinny skank dropped out in one of his accustomed, endless five-set dramas, this time after scarcely four hours with a 7:9 in the final act against South Tyrolean Andreas Seppi, but without another record, the bizarre Croat did not go home.
In this match as well as in a four-hour duel against the Japanese Yuichi Sugita, he struck at least 50 goals in a row – an unprecedented performance in the tennis world. 53 aces against Sugita, 52 aces against Seppi. Now his already unattainable record for the entire career is set at 12,428 Assen. Roger Federer, Goran Ivanisevic (but just over 10,000) and Karlovic, who beats about 20 aces per game.
In extreme cases, however, much more. Just like at the Australian Open 2017, when he was involved in another wear fight – against the Argentinean Horacio Zeballos. At the end, after no less than five hours and 14 minutes, the XXXL man scored 75 aces, a lonely Melbourne record. Karlovic does not only excel in these high speed matches with his high speed serve, but also in the rather grey daily tour routine.
85 per cent of his first serve lands in the field, and 92 per cent of his serve wins “Incredible Ivo” (“The Incredible Ivo”/The Times London) then too. The precision of the cool giant’s precision is frustrating for his opponents, who often powerlessly change sides without even getting to the ball. 71 percent of all breakballs are defended by King Carlo, with a dry face, an expressionless executor from the service line.”I like to do what I do best: Crack up”, is one of those funny, beloved by the fans.
He is one of the last unmistakable characters in the increasingly uniform industry – appreciated by his colleagues, even though they find him a pain in the face of a man-to-man duel on the court:”No one is more frustrating than Ivo,”says even a man like Novak Djokovic, who has already lost two comparisons with the “beanpole” (L? Equipe). Karlovic’s career was in serious danger in 2013, when he suffered from a treacherous meningitis and himself believed that he had to die.”Some days of my life I didn’t have any more on my bill,”says Karlovic,”it was a small miracle that I was able and allowed to start playing tennis again after that”.
And his comeback was more than impressive: In 2015, Karlovic, who always seemed to be a bit grossly motoric, even set a personal record, drumming 1447 aces over the net in the season. Karlovic also left a lasting impression at the Gerry Weber Open that year – with a new world record of 45 aces for matches over two sets of wins. Temporarily, it also included the all-time speed peak in service, at 251.4 km/hr. However, the Australian Sam Groth (263 km/h) stole this best performance from him.
Karlovic has always been good for records. At the age of eleven he was already 1.90 metres tall, and at the age of 13 he was already two metres “I only met two or three times people who were bigger than me. For example, basketball player Pau Gasol, who is 2.13 meters tall,”says Karlovic. For many years, the ATP players’ association recorded him at only 2.08 metres, until Karlovic became too colourful. He demanded a follow-up measurement, which resulted in 2.11 metres. He also lives on a very large scale, but only literally. His shoe size is 52,”I always have to take enough shoes with me when travelling, finding replacements is difficult,”he says.