Ace machine Ivo Karlovic retires at age 44

Ivo Karlovic (Roberta F., Wikimedia Commons)

According to the Associated Press on Wednesday, notable tennis player Ivo Karlovic of Zagreb, Croatia has retired from professional tennis at the age of 44. Karlovic was known for his remarkable height. At 6’11”, he was tied with Reilly Opelka of St. Joseph, Michigan as the tallest player ever in ATP Tour history.

Karlovic was also known for his aces. He is second all-time in aces with 13, 728 aces. The only tennis player with more aces all-time is John Isner of Greensboro, North Carolina with 14, 470. Ironically, Isner announced his retirement after the 2023 United States Open.

Karlovic won eight ATP events. They were the 2007 United States Clay Court Championship in Houston, the 2007 and 2008 Nottingham Open, the 2007 Stockholm Open, the 2013 Colombia Open, the 2015 Delray Beach Open, the 2016 Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island, and the 2016 Los Cabos Open in Mexico. All eight ATP tournaments Karlovic won were either on the International or 250 point series level. The fact that Karlovic won his first ATP event on clay was rather surprising. That is because hard servers tend to do well on hard courts or grass the most.

Two of Karlovic’s most notable wins in his career came over former world number one Roger Federer of Switzerland, and current world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Karlovic beat Federer 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 in the third round of the 2008 Cincinnati Masters, and Djokovic 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of Doha in 2015.

Karlovic also reached a grand slam semifinal in doubles. He made the final four of the 2010 Australian Open with fellow Croat Dusan Vemic, before losing to Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Serbia’s Nenad Zimonjic 6-4, 6-4.

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