Ivo Karlovic

Early career

Karlović debuted for the Croatian Davis Cup team in 2000 against Ireland, where he won the dead rubber. Karlović appeared in a starting line-up for the first time in 2002 against Argentina in Buenos Aires, but he lost to Juan Ignacio Chela in the second rubber and to Gastón Gaudio in the fifth and decisive rubber. He has posted a 4–2 career record (2–2 in singles) in three ties since 2000.

Karlović caused a stunning upset at Wimbledon when he beat defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in his first match in a Grand Slam tournament. As of 2015, Karlović remains the only player in Open tennis history, and only the second player after Charlie Pasarell, to defeat the defending Wimbledon men's singles champion in the first round. He finished the 2003 year in the top 100 and as the Croatian No. 3, behind Ivan Ljubičić and Mario Ančić. He also averaged an ATP-best of 17.6 aces per match. He continued his success during the 2004 season, winning at Calabasas, California. He reached the round of sixteen in several tournaments, including Wimbledon.

2005: First ATP final

In 2005, Karlović reached his first ATP final at the Queen's Club Championships, defeating Lleyton Hewitt and Thomas Johansson along the way. In the final he lost to Andy Roddick. There were no breaks of serve in the match. Afterwards, Roddick said Karlović's serve is "probably the biggest weapon in tennis... you don't really get a feel for it unless you are on the other side. It was not fun at times."

At the 2005 US Open, Karlović lost to eventual runner-up Andre Agassi in three tiebreakers. On 19 October 2005, he finally defeated Roddick in the Madrid Masters event. In November 2005, he was a member of the Croatian team that won the Davis Cup. He did not play in the finals, but played in a semifinal dead rubber.

2006: Breaking into the top 50

On 26 February 2006, he won his first ATP Doubles Tournament with South African Chris Haggard, beating James Blake and Mardy Fish in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup, Memphis, USA. On 10 April, he reached a career high of No. 46 in doubles.

2007: First ATP title & breaking top 30

Karlović and Roger Federer were the only players who won titles on three different surfaces during the 2007 season.

At age 28, he won his first ATP singles title at the 2007 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas, defeating Mariano Zabaleta in the final. On 29 May 2007 at the French Open, he defeated eighth seed James Blake in the first round. In the next round he lost to Jonas Björkman in five sets.

On 23 June 2007, he won his second title of the year and his career at Nottingham, the last grass tune-up before Wimbledon, defeating seventh seed Stanislas Wawrinka, Gilles Simon, Juan Martín del Potro, second seed Dmitry Tursunov (a match played on indoor hard courts due to torrential rain), and Arnaud Clément. As a result, he surpassed his career high from May of the previous year and broke into the top 45 for the first time. Despite a first-round loss at Wimbledon, he rose to No. 40, making his top-40 debut.

On 14 October 2007, he won his third title of the year by taking the Stockholm Open, defeating former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson in three sets in the final. Earlier, Karlović had yet again met Frenchman Arnaud Clément in his quarterfinal, the pair having met five times that year alone, including in the final of Nottingham, where Karlović secured his second career title. Karlović edged past his rival after saving match point in the final-set tiebreak, and then went on to defeat German No. 1 Tommy Haas in the semifinals.

2008: Fourth ATP title & breaking top 15

At the 2008 Australian Open, Karlović entered the men's doubles tournament with 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) John Isner, making them the tallest doubles pair in history. Despite losing in the first round, Karlović said "It was a lot of fun. We will win together next time."

Karlović defeated world No. 1 Roger Federer in the third round of the Cincinnati Masters on 31 July 2008. This was his first victory in seven matches against Federer. It was this loss which caused Federer to lose his No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal. Karlović then advanced to the semifinals. where he lost to eventual champion Andy Murray. This was his career-best result in a top-level tournament.

At the US Open, Karlović fell to Sam Querrey in straight sets.

At the 2008 Madrid Masters, he stunned World No. 3 Novak Djokovic in two tie-breaker sets serving 20 aces to seal victory in 1 hour and 42 minutes. However, he lost in the quarterfinals to Frenchman Gilles Simon, being dominated in the tiebreaks. He was also lobbed over the head three times.

2009: First Grand Slam quarterfinal

At Wimbledon 2009, he powered through the first two rounds, beating Lukáš Lacko and Steve Darcis. In the next two rounds he needed only one break of serve in the third set to defeat both ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and seventh seed Fernando Verdasco, advancing to face Roger Federer in his first quarterfinal at a Grand Slam. The match was a relatively one-sided affair, with Federer winning in straight sets and going on to win the tournament.

In the 2009 Davis Cup semifinals, Karlović was defeated by Radek Štěpánek, despite hitting a record-breaking 78 aces (the record has since been taken by American John Isner). The match was one of the longest in the history of the Davis Cup, lasting 5 h 59 min. There were only three breaks of serve in this match.

Karlović also won his first five-set match in the Davis Cup quarterfinals against the United States, where he came from behind to beat James Blake from two sets down.

2010: injuries and absences

Karlović met Štěpánek again at the 2010 Australian Open, in another five-set marathon. This time, the 13-seeded Štěpánek lost. In all five-set matches Karlović has played, this is only his second win. He went on to reach a career-best fourth round there, after beating Štěpánek, Julien Benneteau (in four sets), and Ivan Ljubičić (also in four sets). After giving a solid performance, he was ousted by the second seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal in that round.

As the second seed at the 2010 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, he made a runner-up effort, losing to first-time ATP-finalist Ernests Gulbis.

In the 2010 Davis Cup, where Croatia had a first-round clash with Ecuador, Karlović defeated Nicolás Lapentti in five sets. This was his third five-set match win, following his five-set win over Štěpánek at the Australian Open. His five-set record then stood at 3–12.

Karlović was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon due to a foot injury.

2011–13: Rankings fall & fifth ATP title

February 2011 saw Karlović temporarily exit from the top 200. Karlović beat Dudi Sela in the first round of Wimbledon in straight sets, but was knocked out in the second round by Andy Murray. Karlović controversially accused Wimbledon of being biased, as he was pulled up for approximately 11 foot faults.

In 2013, Karlović suffered from viral meningitis, which was not immediately diagnosed. He was unconscious for some time, and when he woke up, he did not know his name or what year it was. After a lengthy recovery, he was able to play again in Newport in July, where he made it to the quarterfinals, before being defeated by John Isner in one of their typical ace-fests.

In Bogota, also in July, he won his fifth ATP title, after beating Alejandro Falla in the final. He did not qualify for the Rogers Cup or Cincinnati.

At the US Open, he made it through qualifying and into the second round by defeating James Blake in the last singles match of his career in five sets. In the second round, he met Stanislas Wawrinka, to whom he lost in straight sets.

2014: Four ATP finals & return to top 30

In February, Karlović reached the final of the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, losing to Kei Nishikori. In May, he reached the final of the Düsseldorf Open, losing to Philipp Kohlschreiber. In July, he reached the final of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, losing an epic match to Lleyton Hewitt. Another solid week of tennis saw him make it back to back finals, this time at the Claro Open Colombia, losing to Bernard Tomic in a tight three-setter. He avenged that loss the following month at the Rogers Cup in another tight three-setter.

2015: Sixth ATP title & return to top 20

Karlović won his sixth title, defeating Donald Young at the Delray Beach Open. Ivo also won the 2015 Topshelf Open in doubles with Łukasz Kubot. He reached his second Hall of Fame Tennis Championships final, which he lost to Rajeev Ram in three sets.

2016: Injury and seventh, eighth title

Karlović suffered a knee injury and missed two months of play. He reached the final of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships for the third time against Gilles Müller, which he won in three tiebreaks. At the age of 37 and 5 months, he became the oldest player to win an ATP title since 1979. He reached a ATP World Tour 500 series tournament at the Washington Open (tennis), which he lost to Gaël Monfils. He then won the Los Cabos Open, beating Feliciano López in straight sets and returnig to the top 20 again at 37 years and 6 months.

2017

Karlović began the Australian Open by defeating Horacio Zeballos in a 5 hour, 15 minute match, the second-longest match at the tournament in the Open Era (just behind the Djokovic v. Nadal match in 2012). He set an Australian Open record, hitting 75 aces.

Aged 38, Karlović set up the oldest ATP Tour tournament final against Gilles Muller, aged 34, in 41 years at the 2017 Ricoh Open.

Davis Cup

Karlović has been absent from some previous Croatian Davis Cup campaigns owing to his dispute with the Croatian Tennis Association. He further strained his relations with the Croatian Tennis Association and the Croatian Olympic Committee by his last-minute withdrawal from the Olympic tournament in Beijing, communicated via an SMS message.

He played against Japan in the first round in 2012 in Japan with wins over Kei Nishikori and Go Soeda in singles and in doubles winning with Dodig.

In 2016, Ivo accepted an invitation to the 2016 Davis Cup Final against Argentina. He played the second match, losing against Juan Martín del Potro, and had to play the last deciding match, again losing against Federico Delbonis

Serving records

On 18 September 2009, Karlović hit 78 aces (77 aces on 1st serve) in a Davis Cup match against Radek Štěpánek, breaking his previous record of 51 (against Daniele Bracciali in the 2005 Wimbledon Championships) and 55 (against Lleyton Hewitt in the 2009 French Open). Only once in his ATP career has he failed to hit an ace during a match, which was in the 2008 Monte Carlo Masters against Frenchman Gaël Monfils. His record of aces in a single match was broken by both John Isner and Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in tennis history at the first round of 2010 Wimbledon Championships, where Isner hit 113 aces and Mahut hit 103.

In 2007 Karlović became the fourth player to serve 1,000 aces in a season. He finished the year with 1,318 aces, second all-time behind Goran Ivanišević, who hit 1,477 in 1996. In 2015 he became the third player (after Goran Ivanišević and Andy Roddick) to serve 9,000 career aces., and the second to notch 10,000 aces.

Karlović's fastest official serve is 156 miles per hour (251 km/h), which he hit during his five-set loss in a Davis Cup first round third rubber doubles match with Ivan Dodig against Christopher Kas and Philipp Petzschner of Germany. His previous record was 153 miles per hour (246 km/h) in a victory over Arnaud Clément in the final of Nottingham in 2007. This is the third-fastest first serve on record, after Andy Roddick's 155 miles per hour (249 km/h). He also hit a 144 miles per hour (232 km/h) second serve against Paul Capdeville on 3 August 2007, which is the fastest second serve on record.

Karlovic's record of a 156 mph serve was broken by Samuel Groth at the 2012 ATP Challenger in Busan, Karlović though still holds the record for ATP events.

On 19 June 2015 Karlović broke the record for most aces in a three-set ATP Tour match during the quarterfinal of 2015 Gerry Weber Open. He served 45 aces in a 7-5 6-7 (8-10) 6-3 win over Tomáš Berdych.

Karlović holds the record for the most aces in tennis history after surpassing Goran Ivanišević in October, 2015. As of September 2017, he has struck 12,196 aces in 648 matches.

Personal life

During Karlović's childhood, his mother Gordana worked in agriculture, while his father Vlado was a meteorologist.

Karlović married his wife Alsi on 29 March 2005. Their first child, Jada Valentina, was born in September 2011.

One of his favorite activities is playing basketball.

Karlović is known for his humorous Twitter account.

Karlović wears size 51 shoes.

Equipment and apparel

Karlović currently endorses the Head Graphene Radical Pro, and wears Mizuno clothing and clothes.

Early on in his career, Karlović used Head Prestige racquets, until switching to the Head Flexpoint Instinct in 2005. He continued to use the Instinct until 2012, except for a brief switch to the Babolat AeroPro Drive Cortex in 2009.

In 2013, after a period of struggling to find a replacement for the Flexpoint Instinct he enjoyed, he finally switched to the Head YouTek IG Radical Pro, and proceeded to endorse the new Graphene Radical in 2014.

Karlović has previously worn apparel by Diadora, My OCK, Adidas, Nike, Li-Ning, Sergio Tacchini and Mizuno, as well as his own brand 6’10".

Performance timelines

Current till 2017 US Open

Record against top 10 players

Karlović's record against players who have been ranked world No. 10 or higher, based on ATP head-to-head records..
Statistics correct as of 11 September 2017.