Miles to go for this kar-lovic

PUNE: Early 1990s in war-torn Yugoslavia. The scene is grim everywhere, including at a tennis club in Zagreb. A young Ivo Karlovic, who has already decided that his future lies in the sport, has no other kid to train with. So he decides to go solo; he would toss balls before smacking them to the empty side of the court. Hour after hour and day after day, the Zagreb boy, while looking longingly towards the club’s entrance, would serve towards the other side. That’s how the Croat developed his crazy superpower of serving ace after ace.

“When I was, maybe 13, I just liked to hit aces,” he said after beating Steve Darcis in the semifinal of the Tata Open Maharashtra on Friday. “That was my style... I didn’t get a lot of opportunities to hit with other kids. I would just go to courts to just practice serves... that helped me a lot.” He has fired 13,024 aces since turning pro some 20 years ago, comfortably in front in this metric since ATP started keeping records in 1991 (the next best is John Isner at 10,937).      

His serving prowess has been one of the highlights of the last week. He has fired 88 aces in the four matches so far. Considering his height — he stands at an impressive 6’11”, one of the tallest to play the sport at a professional level — his serves also seem like they are fired from a machine gun. One only needed to look at Darcis to imagine what an opponent goes through when they are facing up to his serve. After a 200 kmph ace, the Belgian swung an imaginary backhand to let his frustration out. His expression suggested, ‘why am I even bothering trying to take this guy’s serve?’ 
    
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Of course, the big-serving Croat isn’t the only serve bot on the circuit. The likes of John Isner and Kevin Anderson are also masters of this trade. But what makes the 39-year-old truly special is his longevity. As he stepped out on the court for his semifinal, he became the oldest to feature in a last four at the ATP World Tour since Jimmy Connors in 1995. His powers of endurance are evident from the following stat: he played his first ever competitive meet — a Futures event in Croatia — in 1998.  

It’s fair to say that a lot has changed in the sport in the intervening 20 years and six months. So Karlovic, who has been ranked as high as No 14 in the past (August 2008), is a bonafide authority to answer the one burning tennis-related question everyone wants to ask these days. How are so many 30+ professionals still going strong? “Everyone focuses on preparation and gym. When I started, we didn’t have a lot of fitness trainers travelling (with the players). But nowadays, everybody has one. That’s why so many players have longer careers.” 

With advanced sports science at his disposal, Karlovic, whose ranking plummeted to No 138 last September, hopes to keep going for a few more years. It’s easy to ask him why he wants to continue given he has achieved a lot (eight titles, over $9 mn and over 350 match wins). “What is there to be achieved? I want to be the oldest one ever to be ranked in the top-100. I don’t know how much longer I have to be there.” He has to carry on for five more years to get past the current record-holder, Ken Rosewall (he was inside the top-100 at the age of 45). 

Curiously enough, the serve and volleyer inadvertently lifts the lid on what he has to do to keep himself relevant in an era where more and more players prefer to bash the ball from beyond the baseline. “Last few months, I was on YouTube a lot to watch videos of Stefan Edberg (to see the way he did serve and volleys)... nobody is doing it these days.”    

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As he shook Darcis’ hands after the end of their semifinal, Karlovic broke another age-related record. He became the oldest player to advance to a Tour final since Rosewall (he was 43) in 1977. 
The gentle giant continues to use his greatest weapon to power through against much younger players (his scalps here have come against an 18-year-old, 28-year-old, 30-year-old and a 34-year-old). On Saturday, he will face 32-year-old Anderson for a shot at winning his first title since 2016. If he does get over the line, he will break the record he set when he became the oldest player to win at this level at Los Cabos three years ago. 
Results (semifinals): Ivo Karlovic (CRO) bt Steve Darcis (BEL) 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3, Kevin Anderson (RSA x1) bt Gilles Simon (FRA x3) 6-3, 7-6 (3).