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Young in spirit Israel today

2020-09-23T06:05:19.167Z


At 41 and after 18 years at the first Maya in the tennis world, the Croatian giant hits his feet on clay in the qualifiers Roland Garros | tennis


He is the king of aces of the world tennis, the oldest to win the Challenger tournament and close to close 18 consecutive years in the first Maya • At the age of 41 Ivan Karlovic hits his feet on the clay in the Roland Garros qualifiers and does not think about retiring

  • Karlowitz in action

    Photo: 

    IP

Last April, at the height of the global closure, Ivo Karlovic appeared for a question and answer session with tennis fans on Twitter.

To the question "Federer or Nadal?"

The Croatian replied: "Nobody, I prefer women."

When another fan wondered "If an ant starts climbing on your feet, when will it reach your head?"

He replied, "Within a month."

When someone tried to figure out how tall he was (2.11 meters) the answer he got was, "Every morning I put my feet in a bucket of water."

Yes, a man of few words is Karlowitz, but of a lot of humor.

He is able to laugh at any subject and anything, especially on his favorite subject these days: his retirement, which refuses to come.

When one of the fans was direct and just fired the obvious question "When are you retiring?"

Karlowitz's answer was concise: "Never."

It is clear that someday the Croatian will have to hang the bat, but in the meantime he has no intention of doing so.

At the age of 41 and a half, with more than 20 years of professional tennis behind him, Karlovic is currently smashing his feet on the clay in the Roland Garros qualifiers.

On Tuesday he defeated Noah Robin in the first qualifying round and today he will meet Benjamin Bonzi - both 24 years old. The goal is of course to enter the main draw, but also to close 18 consecutive years in the first Maya.

"Right now I'm ranked, 124 so I'm not that far away," he clarified.

Karlovic.

Not a man of words // Photo: Reuters 

Such marginal records are what hold the motivation of the older Karlovic even at a time when there is no audience in the stands and it is not clear what will be in the future.

In his 20-year career, he has appeared only once in the Grand Slam quarter-finals - at Wimbledon - 2009 but still managed to engrave his name in the record books in all sorts of categories.

First of all, Karlovic is the ace king of world tennis - with 13,619 such in 688 games he is an undisputed first place.

He also holds the record for aces for the best game from three sets (45) and is the only one to hit more than 40 in three consecutive Wimbledon games.

In the age segment, Karlovic is the oldest ever to win a Challenger tournament (39 and seven months).

Last year he became the oldest player to play in a round tournament final since Ken Rosswell in 1977, the oldest to win a tournament since Jimmy Connors in 1995, and the oldest ever to win a game in the Masters Tournament.

After every such record comes the reports of the Croatian's retirement, but he continues on his own.

"I don't see a decline in my abilities," he said recently, "if I can continue to play at those levels and enjoy it, I see no reason to stop."

Source: israelhayom

All sports articles on 2020-09-23

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