Ivo Karlović

Early career

Karlović at the 2004 U.S. Open

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.^[12] 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."^[13]

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.^[14]

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.^[15] 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."^[16]

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

Ivo Karlović and Ivan Dodig in Davis Cup doubles match against Germany

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.^[17]

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.^[18]

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.^[19] Karlović controversially accused Wimbledon of being biased, as he was pulled up for approximately 11 foot faults.^[20]

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.^[21] 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.^[22]

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

Ivo Karlović at 2016 Erste Bank Open

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 returning to the top 20 again at 37 years and 6 months.

2017: 75 Aces at Australian Open

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.^[23]

2018: Defying age

At the 2018 Australian Open, Karlović progressed all the way to the Round of 32, losing to Andreas Seppi, 3–6, 6–7^(4–7), 7–6^(7–3), 7–6^(7–5), 7–9.

At the 2018 Ecuador Open in Quito, Karlović made it as far as the Round of 16, losing to 18 years old Corentin Moutet, 5–7, 7–6^(7–3), 6–7^(6–8).

Next, he reached the quarter finals at New York Open (tennis) losing to Sam Querrey, who was seeded second.

After a string of tight first round losses at Delray Beach Open, Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open (tennis), the recently concluded U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston saw Karlović reach the semifinals with wins over Japanese Taro Daniel, Denis Kudla and 4th seed Nick Kyrgios. In the semifinals, he lost to eventual runner-up Tennys Sandgren in two close sets, both of which ended in tie-breaks.

Davis Cup

Karlović has been absent from some previous Croatian Davis Cup campaigns owing to his dispute with the Croatian Tennis Association.^[24] 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.^[25][26]

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.

Singles: 18 (8 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Jun 2005	Queen's Club Championships, UK	International	Grass	Andy Roddick	6–7(7–9), 6–7(4–7)
Loss	0–2	Feb 2007	Pacific Coast Championships, US	International	Hard	Andy Murray	7–6(7–3), 4–6, 6–7(2–7)
Win	1–2	Apr 2007	U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, US	International	Clay	Mariano Zabaleta	6–4, 6–1
Win	2–2	Jun 2007	Nottingham Open, UK	International	Grass	Arnaud Clément	3–6, 6–4, 6–4
Win	3–2	Oct 2007	Stockholm Open, Sweden	International	Hard (i)	Thomas Johansson	6–3, 3–6, 6–1
Win	4–2	Jun 2008	Nottingham Open, UK (2)	International	Grass	Fernando Verdasco	7–5, 6–7(4–7), 7–6(10–8)
Loss	4–3	Feb 2010	Delray Beach Open, US	250 Series	Hard	Ernests Gulbis	2–6, 3–6
Win	5–3	Jul 2013	Colombia Open, Colombia	250 Series	Hard	Alejandro Falla	6–3, 7–6(7–4)
Loss	5–4	Feb 2014	U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, US	250 Series	Hard (i)	Kei Nishikori	4–6, 6–7(0–7)
Loss	5–5	May 2014	Düsseldorf Open, Germany	250 Series	Clay	Philipp Kohlschreiber	2–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss	5–6	Jul 2014	Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, US	250 Series	Grass	Lleyton Hewitt	3–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–7(3–7)
Loss	5–7	Jul 2014	Colombia Open, Colombia	250 Series	Hard	Bernard Tomic	6–7(5–7), 6–3, 6–7(4–7)
Win	6–7	Feb 2015	Delray Beach Open, US	250 Series	Hard	Donald Young	6–3, 6–3
Loss	6–8	Jul 2015	Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, US	250 Series	Grass	Rajeev Ram	6–7(5–7), 7–5, 6–7(2–7)
Win	7–8	Jul 2016	Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, US	250 Series	Grass	Gilles Müller	6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–5), 7–6(14–12)
Loss	7–9	Jul 2016	Washington Open, US	500 Series	Hard	Gaël Monfils	7–5, 6–7(6–8), 4–6
Win	8–9	Aug 2016	Los Cabos Open, Mexico	250 Series	Hard	Feliciano López	7–6(7–5), 6–2
Loss	8–10	Jun 2017	Rosmalen Championships, Netherlands	250 Series	Grass	Gilles Müller	6–7(5–7), 6–7(4–7)

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Feb 2006	U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, US	Intl. Gold	Hard (i)	Chris Haggard	James Blake Mardy Fish	0–6, 7–5, [10–5]
Loss	1–1	Jul 2007	Indianapolis Tennis Championships, US	International	Hard	Teymuraz Gabashvili	Juan Martín del Potro Travis Parrott	6–3, 2–6, [6–10]
Win	2–1	Jun 2015	Rosmalen Championships, Netherlands	250 Series	Grass	Łukasz Kubot	Pierre-Hugues Herbert Nicolas Mahut	6–2, 7–6(11–9)

Singles: 10 (6–4)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Dec 2001	Urbana, United States	Hard (i)	Robby Ginepri	6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Loss	1–1	Jul 2002	Andorra, Andorra	Hard	Dick Norman	4–6, 4–6
Win	2–1	Aug 2003	Binghamton, United States	Hard	Nicolas Thomann	7–6(8–6), 6–7(6–8), 7–6(7–4)
Win	3–1	Aug 2003	Bronx, United States	Hard	Dmitry Tursunov	6–3, 6–3
Win	4–1	Apr 2004	Calabasas, United States	Hard	Alex Bogomolov Jr.	7–6(7–3), 6–3
Loss	4–2	Jun 2005	Surbiton, United Kingdom	Grass	Daniele Bracciali	7–6(7–0), 6–7(5–7), 6–7(4–7)
Loss	4–3	Jun 2007	Surbiton, United Kingdom	Grass	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	3–6, 6–7(4–7)
Win	5–3	Oct 2011	Sacramento, United States	Hard	James Blake	6–4, 3–6, 6–4
Win	6–3	Oct 2011	Tiburon, United States	Hard	Sam Querrey	6–7(2–7), 6–1, 6–4
Loss	6–4	Oct 2018	Monterrey, Mexico	Hard	David Ferrer	3–6, 4–6

Doubles: 3 (0–3)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Dec 1999	Jaipur, India	Grass	Yuri Schukin	Tomáš Anzari Satoshi Iwabuchi	6–7(6–8), 6–4, 6–7(5–7)
Loss	0–2	Jun 2001	Salvador, Brazil	Hard	Alejandro Hernández	Adriano Ferreira Daniel Melo	6–3, 3–6, 6–7(3–7)
Loss	0–3	Dec 2002	Yokohama, Japan	Carpet 8i)	Mark Nielsen	Lu Yen-hsun Danai Udomchoke	6–7(5–7), 3–6

Davis Cup: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partners	Opponents	Score
Win	Dec 2005	Davis Cup, Bratislava, Slovakia	Hard (i)	Ivan Ljubičić Mario Ančić Goran Ivanišević	Dominik Hrbatý Karol Kučera Michal Mertiňák	3–2
Loss	Nov 2016	Davis Cup, Zagreb, Croatia	Hard (i)	Marin Čilić Ivan Dodig Franko Škugor	Juan Martín del Potro Federico Delbonis Leonardo Mayer Guido Pella	2–3

World Team Cup: 1 (1 title)

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partners	Opponents	Score
Win	May 2006	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	Ivan Ljubičić Mario Ančić	Nicolas Kiefer Alexander Waske Michael Kohlmann	2–1

Singles

This table is current through the 2018 US Open – Men's Singles Qualifying.

Doubles