The 21st century
Croatia · born Zagreb, 1979 · right-handed · 211 cm · twice Nottingham champion and Newport champion 2016
All playersBack to the rankings
7
Grass singles finals on the tour, three of them won
13,728
Career aces, the ATP record until 2022
156 mph
Serve in the 2011 Davis Cup, then the fastest on record
QF
Best Wimbledon result, 2009
14
Career-high ranking, August 2008
Ivo Karlović was born in Zagreb in 1979 and turned professional in 2000. At 211 cm he was among the tallest players ever ranked, and he built his game on the serve, a serve-and-volley game behind it and a sliced backhand. In his first Grand Slam match, at Wimbledon in 2003, he beat the defending champion Lleyton Hewitt.
He won eight ATP singles titles between 2007 and 2016, three of them on grass, reached No. 14 in August 2008 and played his only major quarter-final at Wimbledon in 2009, where he lost to Roger Federer. He set the ATP record for career aces, later passed by John Isner, and hit a 156 mph serve in 2011. In 2013 he was treated in hospital in Miami for viral meningitis and returned to play that summer. He kept winning into his forties, became in 2016 the oldest ATP champion since 1979, played his last match in 2021 and announced his retirement in February 2024, aged 44.
| Nottingham | 2007: beat Arnaud Clément 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. 2008: beat Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(6); rain moved that final indoors |
|---|---|
| Newport | Lost the final to Lleyton Hewitt in 2014 and to Rajeev Ram in 2015, then won in 2016, beating Gilles Müller 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-6(12) after saving three match points |
| Queen's Club 2005 | Ranked 77th, reached his first tour final after beating Fernando González and the world No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt; lost to Andy Roddick in two tiebreaks, 9-7 and 7-4, without a break of serve |
| 's-Hertogenbosch | Doubles champion with Łukasz Kubot in 2015; singles runner-up to Gilles Müller 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in 2017, the oldest ATP final since 1977 |
| Wimbledon | 2003: beat the holder and top seed Lleyton Hewitt 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-4 in the first round. 2009: beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Fernando Verdasco to reach the quarter-finals |
| Nottingham | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Men's singles | |
| 2008 | Men's singles‡ | |
| 's-Hertogenbosch (Rosmalen) | ||
| 2015 | Men's doubles Rosmalen Grass Court Championships | with Łukasz Kubot |
| Newport, Rhode Island | ||
| 2016 | Men's singles Hall of Fame Open | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I was finally able to do it. I was down to match point. That makes it even nicer."
The person behind the player.
Wimbledon 2003
Playing his first match at a major, he beat the holder and top seed Lleyton Hewitt in the first round, one of only two such defeats of a Wimbledon men's holder and top seed in the opening round.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025Zagreb, March 2011
In a Davis Cup doubles against Germany, played before a home crowd in Zagreb, he served at 156 mph, beating Andy Roddick's record from 2004 by one mph. He and Ivan Dodig still lost the match.
Source: NPRNewport, July 2016
After losing the two previous Newport finals, he saved three match points against Gilles Müller and won a deciding tiebreak 14-12 on his fifth match point. At 37, he was the oldest ATP champion since Marty Riessen at Lafayette in 1979.
Source: ESPN (Associated Press)Miami, 2013
In April 2013 he was admitted to hospital in Miami with viral meningitis. He returned to the tour that summer.
Source: Tennis.comFebruary 2024
Announcing his retirement at 44, more than two years after his last match, he wrote: "I've had a very gratifying, unorthodox and long career coming from extremely humble beginnings".
Source: ATP TourFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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