Ivo Karlovic is the tallest player ever to rank in the Top 100 on the ATP Tour, which always leads to the same question: Just how tall is he?
Instead of having to answer, the No. 7 seed can just point to the logo on his tennis shorts: 6-10.
Everybody’s always asking me, you know, so I just decided to, you know,” said Karlovic, speaking in broken English after his 6-3, 6-3 thrashing of Evgeny Korolev in the second round.
The 28-year-old Croatian, who burst onto the scene at Wimbledon in 2003 by topping defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the first round, racked up 18 aces and won 90 percent of points on his first serve against Korolev.
“I’m pretty happy that I won,” said Karlovic, “and with the way that I was playing.”
Close matches abound
Karlovic’s dominant performance was an aberration during an afternoon full of tight matches.
Every one of the other first four matches of the day went to three sets or included at least one tiebreaker.
No. 12 seed Vince Spadea mixed speeds on his serve and fought back from 2-4 in the first set to defeat big-serving South African Wesley Moodie, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3).
Moodie had beaten Spadea, 6-4, 6-4, earlier this summer on grass at the Tennis Hall of Fame tournament in Newport, R.I.
“Not being on grass allowed me to play more balls,” said Spadea. “It helped me out today.”
Fish drowning in knee troubles
After a knee injury forced him to retire from the Indianapolis Tennis Championships last week, No. 6 seed Mardy Fish once again struggled in a 6-7 (4-7), 4-6 loss to Michael Berrer.
“I’d be lying to you if I said it was probably a good idea to play this tournament,” said Fish, who said he has patella tendonitis in both of his knees. “This is an SFX tournament, and I’m represented by them. This is a special tournament for me, and one of the tournaments I look forward to every summer. That had a lot to do with me wanting to come here. It probably would’ve been a better idea to stay home.”
