The real Methuselah, the Federer Era is Karlovic

Three things have distinguished Ivo Karlovic has always been: to beat His body size (2.11 m), its ability to aces (13 289 as a professional) as well as its fuzzy sayings. In the meantime, his age is a bit. 28. February, the Croatian 40. So he is the oldest player in the ATP world rankings, and even Roger Federer, the fourth-oldest, against, with its 37 years and 7 months of him as a novice.

"40 is the new 30, so I'm young again. It pleases me," said Karlovic in Indian Wells. And so he plays: With Wins over Matthew Ebden, Borna Coric – last year's semi-finalists – and the Indian Prajnesh Gunneswaran he reached the quarter-finals, where he challenges today Dominic Thiem.

Fresh Inspiration

Karlovic is the first 40-Year-old, winner of the 1990 incurred in Masters series matches. The last SC-40 player who won ahead of him in a game was 1995's Jimmy Connors in the hall. Comparisons with earlier sizes in honor of Karlovic, who has accumulated in his twenty year career, eight tournament victories and 9.3 million dollars in prize money and up to rank 14 to advance was shot.

of The 40. Birthday seems to have him fresh and inspired. "Every week, I am now the Oldest in something. Next week, I am perhaps the Oldest, ever come without an artificial hip joint on the field," he joked. So he took on the hip of Andy Murray and Bob Bryan.

However, Karlovic got his share of physical problems, and his career hung twice on a thin thread. In April 2013, he woke up at home in Miami, strange pain, lost during the day, his body was feeling, and was not the evening to speak in the hospital once more. It was an encephalitis, a brain inflammation.

"Almost prefer

" died "There were days where I woke up and thought: Okay, I'm still alive. But the headaches were unbearable. It went so far that I almost died in there dear, you can't take anymore." When he could finally leave the hospital, knew Karlovic, what he really wanted: more Tennis to play this fascinating sport, which he had taught in war-torn Croatia under awkward conditions once self – with long hours, lonely impact exercises, no workout partners were to be found.

Karlovic was a slow starter, the first with 24 in the Top 100 vorstiess. The next big crisis was followed last year. "I lost the desire to train and fight. Worst of all, it was in Roland Garros, where I just wanted to go home." He hated it, even to hold a racquet in Hand, he wrote in a column for the ATP-site.

Everything much easier

"I was 39, had two children at home, and when I left, they were all sad." He dropped out of the Top 100, and was classified in September on rank 138. His career seemed to be at the end. "But then I set myself a goal: I wanted to try to qualify via the rankings for the Australian Open.Should it not succeed, I would resign." Karlovic played after the US Open only Challenger tournaments, he won one of them (oldest player) and gained enough points to finish the year ranked 101, with which he was in Melbourne to compete. And already at the first tournament in 2019, in the Indian city of Pune, he reached the final, also as previously ältster players on the ATP Tour.

After Indian Wells, to the amiable bearded giant will appear again in the Top 75 and with a fresh passion to the next ATP tournaments travel. "I'm not slower or worse than 38 years. Therefore, I see no reason why I should not continue to play, and hopefully still for a long time," he says. "Now that I'm back victories, everything became much easier."

words are also likely to favour Roger Federer.

(editing Tamedia)

Created: 12.03.2019, 23:28 PM