Mana Games

[Togtdyalttai]

Welcome to the story of Ivo Karlovic. This thread will chronicle Ivo's experiences in a World Tour career played by me. But before we can start the diary, let's see what the real Dr. Ivo has done in his career so far:

Karlovic turned pro in 2000 at the age of 21. Ever since, he has been causing his opponents agony with his serve, coming down from his gigantic 208 cm build.


Dr. Ivo has won 4 titles: Houston on clay, Nottingham on grass, and Stockholm on hard all in 2007, and Nottingham again last year. He hasn't had much success at the slams, though he did make the 4th round of Wimbledon in 2004 and beat the defending champion (Lleyton Hewitt) there the year before. He has beaten a number of the top players, including both Federer and Djokovic last year. Karlovic has been ranked as high as 14th, in 2008.


A video of his win over Federer in Cincinnati last year: http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/aceses/video/x6b396_karlovic-beat-federer-cincinnati-ma

He holds a number of service records, including the most aces in a match (55), set against Lleyton Hewitt in a loss at this year's French Open. He has served a ball at 246 km/h before, which is 2nd on the all-time list behind Andy Roddick's 249 km/h. He has hit an ace in every match he has played except for one: at Monte Carlo in 2008 against Gael Monfils.

And now some about his playing style:

Although it has been said that Dr. Ivo is just a serve, he also has some other notable weapons. His net play is very good, and he has great touch for a man of his size. He serve-volleys most of the time on his 1st serve, and some of the time on his 2nd also. From the baseline, he is very inconsistent, but comes up with a huge forehand once in a while. Because of his huge serve, his matches often include quite a few tiebreaks. Many opponents are afraid to play him because they know that they will have to keep holding serve along with the big man and hope that he will give them something to work with.

I hope to improve on Karlovic's accomplishments in this career and get the most out of his rare talents.

[Togtdyalttai]

Let's get down to business. Here are the starting points for this career:

• Level: Incredible sub 1
• Starting rank: 1000
• Starting year: 2000 (Ivo was 20 at the beginning of the year 2000, but there wasn't an option to change it to that, so he's 17)
• Outfit: taken from Kyuuji's posting in the create your own outfits thread (thank you )
• Style: volleyer (in reality, he might be more of a varied player, but i

And now the stats: we're going to start out with a serve, and not much else. However, coach Tog can't stand extremely slow people, so we'll put 40 points in speed. As for the serve, we'll start out with 60 power, 45 consistency, and 25 precision.

After we get some experience, we'll keep raising Dr. Ivo's serve until all 3 stats are at 100. Then we'll move on to net skills. If those ever get high enough, we'll give him a forehand, but that could take sometime before we get there.

I was hoping to add a tentative schedule, but it doesn't look like I can access a calendar after clicking on the first tournament that I'm going to play, so it looks like we'll just start out with the infamous Germany F1 on indoor carpet.

[Togtdyalttai]

Germany F1:



Our first opponent in the qualifying for Germany F1 is Phillip Simmonds (USA). He’s a puncher with groundies in the 40s and a serve in the 30s, though he’s ranked in the top 500. Shouldn’t be too difficult.

Wow, I guess they don’t call it incredible for nothing; Even though Simmonds has awful stats, he still takes any short ball and smacks it home for a winner. Looks like Ivo came out of the gates a bit sluggish. Simmonds put Dr. Ivo down 4-0 in no time before he could come back to 3-4. Then Simmonds broke back AGAIN for 5-3, but Ivo was able to stop him from serving out the set with a couple of well-placed passes and hold for 5-5 after saving 4 set points. Simmonds held, and, after 5 more set points saved by Karlovic, he finally broke through on the 6th one to take the set.

The second set’s scoreline transpired closer to what you would expect from a Karlovic match. Ivo held serve until 3-3, putting ever-increasing pressure on the Simmonds serve until finally breaking it. He easily served out the set to send it to the decisive 3rd set.
The 3rd set was one of lost opportunities. Serve was held until 2-2 when Ivo had 2 break points on the Simmonds serve but was unable to convert. In the next game, Simmonds returned the favor with 2 missed break points of his own. However, on the 3rd break point of the game, Simmonds was able to capitalize, and, although Dr. Ivo made him work for it, he was able to hold two more times to close out the match.

Phillip Simmonds (USA) def. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 7-5 4-6 6-3

Nothing left to do but come back next week for Germany F2 and hope for a better performance.

[Togtdyalttai]

Before we start Germany F2, we have 7 experience points to spend, which will go into serve power to bring it up to 63% (it went down 1). I also need to mention that Ivo’s serve precision is at 35, not 25, and that his topspin is at 0%.

Germany F2



This match spells trouble for Dr. Ivo. We’ve drawn the 4th seed in the first round of qualifying. Patrick Linke (AUT) is basically an improved version of Simmonds. He’s a power baseliner with better groundstrokes, and since Ivo has most success at the baseline when his opponents are at the net, he has an even lower chance of breaking. Another thing is that this tournament is on indoor hard instead of the slightly faster carpet, which should be another detriment to Ivo’s style. Oh well, we’ll hope for the best.

Patrick Linke (AUT) def. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-1 6-3

Well, Ivo had his chances. Linke took the lead early in the 1st set but Dr. Ivo had break points in the very next game but was unable to convert. Linke proceeded thereafter to run away with the set and then to a 3-0 (2 break) lead in the 2nd. Ivo was able to get one of the breaks back and get to 0-40 on the Linke serve at 3-4, but when he couldn’t convert those break points, Linke once again ran away with the set and this time, the match.

Enough with Europe for now! We're going to Guatemala!

[Santiago92]

Ey Tog, could you record your matches?

[Togtdyalttai]

Guatemala F1



Well, we’re playing on increasingly worse surfaces for Dr. Ivo. This one’s on gray cement, supposedly the most average surface in the game. Luckily we drew an awful player this time. James May (GBR) DOES NOT HAVE A SINGLE STAT OVER 20% and yet is in the top 600. If Dr. Ivo can’t win this one, I think it’s time to restart this career on a lower difficulty.

Q1: Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. James May (GBR) 6-1 6-2

May was never really in this match, although he did have a break point to go up 2-0 in the 2nd set. Ivo took it to him like he should to anyone with May’s skills. Let’s see if we can keep it up and qualify for our first main draw!

Next up is Dante Cipulli (ARG), a counterpuncher with decent stats all around, but not too much power. This should be an interesting match, but I think Ivo can beat him.

Q2: Dante Cipulli (ARG) def. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-2 4-6 6-4

Once again, Ivo had his chances. Cipulli was just too good in the first set, very solid at net and breaking Ivo with ease. The 2nd set was a turnaround for the big man: although he still got broken twice he was able to do the same to Cipulli. At 2-1 in the 3rd set, Karlovic had break points but was unable to convert them and was broken the next game. Cipulli never looked back.

We’ll see what happens next week in the same place on the same surface.

Santi: I recorded the first two matches and will upload them soon. Unfortunately I forgot to put the record back on after downloading the new subbuild and so the last two weren't recorded. I'll put it back on now though.

[Togtdyalttai]

Guatemala F2



Ivo’s drawn another awful player in the first round, Eddie Acuna (USA). Acuna’s a defender with groundies in the 20s and everything else even worse than that. Should be easy.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Eddie Acuna (USA) 6-3 6-2

Easy match, quite like the one against May, Ivo never let Acuna in it. He broke Ivo once in the 1st set, but that was more of an afterthought than anything else.
Our next opponent is another defender, Eric Prodon (FRA), but this matchup should be much tougher. Prodon is seeded in the qualies and has his groundies in the 60s, and a better serve, lob, speed, stamina, and more. It’ll be tough for Ivo to win this one, but it’s definitely possible.

Eric Prodon (FRA) def. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-0 6-2

Well, I thought it’d be tough, but it turned out to be worse than I could’ve imagined, magnified by the fact that I simply didn’t play well in this match. Prodon jumped all over Dr. Ivo, and he never let up.

We’re going to stay on Central American cement and play Costa Rica F1 now.

[Togtdyalttai]

Costa Rica F1



This time we’ve drawn a player I’ve actually heard of: Daniel “Crazy Dani” Koellerer (AUT). Strange thing is, this guy’s 29 in 2000, whereas the real one is 25 today. Crazy Manu! If you’re wondering where the nickname Crazy Dani comes from, here’s a sampling for you (the first link’s a short clip and the second an article):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNkqvbg_TTw

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/columns/story?columnist=tandon_kamakshi&id=4141101

Anyway, back to business. Koellerer’s a defender who has skills about halfway between Prodon’s and Acuna’s. This should make for a close match, but we’ll see.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Daniel Koellerer (AUT) 6-2 6-2

From early in the match, we tried another tactic to complement the serve-volley/chip-charge. This tactic involved staying behind the baseline, slicing the ball back, and waiting for Koellerer to either make an error or drop shot Ivo so he could get back into net. This tactic was partially successful, enough to keep using it. Koellerer didn’t pose much of a problem, and he wasn’t able to break Ivo, so it ended up a pretty easy match.

Who woulda thunk it? Another guy I’ve heard of! It’s Marco Chiudinelli (SUI), Federer’s replacement in Davis Cup this year. Thanks to this guy, the US made it through Chiudinelli’s ANOTHER defender with stats extremely similar to Koellerer’s—pretty much everything in the 30s. Heck, if we can beat one, why not the other?

Marco Chudinelli (SUI) def. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-3 6-4

Ivo started this match strong, going up 2-0, but then went into a slump that lost him the match. He lost 7 of the next 8 games including one game where he double-faulted 4 times in a row. After going down a break early in the 2nd set, he couldn’t break Chiudinelli back again.

[Togtdyalttai]

Here are some match videos from the month of January 2000. I have to apologize for not recording all of them but I'll post the ones I did.

[Togtdyalttai]

The forum doesn't allow more than 3 attachments, so here's the last match: Chiudinelli from Costa Rica F1. This is our most disappointing loss so far.

[Togtdyalttai]

Costa Rica F2



In the 1st round of qualifying this time, we’ve drawn a seed. Strange thing is, Denis Matsukevitch (RUS)—the name reminds me of Daisuke Matsuzaka (a baseball player)—sucks: he’s a counterpuncher with stats in the 20s at best. Now that I’ve said that though, he’ll probably beat Ivo.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Denis Matsukevitch (RUS) 6-3 3-6 6-2

Ivo was down a break in each of these sets. In the 1st and 3rd, he was able to break back and then break again to take the set, in the 2nd he wasn’t. Matsukevitch played surprisingly well at net for his low skills there, but he couldn’t outdo Ivo in that department. Good to finally get a 3-set win under our belts.
Next up is Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX). This guy’s pretty darn good to be playing in a futures tournament. His style is varied and his serve is in the 50s, groundies in the 40s, and net skills in the 30s. I think there’s a good chance he sends Ivo running away back to Europe.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (MEX) 7-5 6-1

No wonder I’ve never won a predictions contest. This match was a strange one. It had more breaks than holds, and Ivo was more successful from the baseline than at the net, at least on Reyes-Varela’s serve. Reyes-Varela came to net 44 times, and won a pitiful 9 of those points. In the first set, Reyes-Varela jumped out to a 5-2 (2 break) lead, but Ivo broke him both times when he was serving for the set. I might mention that Ivo started staying back on Reyes-Varela’s serve after going down 5-2. After that, the Mexican only one 1 more game in the match, which happened to be on Ivo’s serve and not his own.

Our final barrier to qualifying for our first main draw is Alexandre Simoni (BRA). This guy’s another counterpuncher, and we’ve had trouble with those in the past. He has decent groundies and very good special skills (drop shot, lob, counter). Should be another tough one, but what do I know?

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Alexandre Simoni (BRA) 6-2 6-4

Ivo was extremely strong when either person was at net today. He won 80% of his own points at net and 58% of those when Simoni came in. As a result, Ivo held serve easily for most of the match. Simoni only had one break point, and although he converted it, Ivo kept on plugging away and broke Simoni in 4 out of his 9 service games. I thought this would be difficult, but it seems that Ivo is gradually improving enough to win these kinds of matches. We’ll see what the main draw brings.

In the first round, we’ve drawn Tyler Cleveland (USA). He’s pretty bad: groundies in the low 30’s, everything else worse than that. But we’ve been troubled by power baseliners like him in the past. But I think Ivo’s turned a corner, and that this match will be an easier one. But you probably know my bad prediction record by now, so let’s hope I’m right for once.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Tyler Cleveland (USA) 6-3 6-2

Once again, Ivo was very strong on serve and at the net. Although Cleveland jumped out to a 3-1 advantage, Ivo battled back and after that the American never had a chance. Another workmanlike performance from the big man has secured him his first ranking points ever. Now we’ll see how many of those ranking points we can capture.

Ivo’s 2nd round opponent is Frederik Nielsen (DEN), a fellow qualifier and the first volleyer we’ve faced. His net skills and serve are both in the high 40s, so he should be pretty good up there. But Ivo seems to like playing against attacking players, so I think he should pull this one out.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Frederik Nielsen (DEN) 6-2 6-4

Ivo just keeps getting better and better on serve and at the net. This match marks the first time that Ivo went through a whole match without getting broken. He didn’t even face a break point. Nielsen’s serve was a hard nut to crack, but Ivo was able to steal a few points here and there and ended up with 3 breaks. On to the quarters!

Up next is Germany’s Tomas Behrend, once again a qualifier. Behrend is very balanced—he’s a varied player with just about every stat in the high 40s. But because of his style, I think Ivo has a good chance. It should be a good match though.

Tomas Behrend (GER) def. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 7-5 6-2

Behrend turned out to be the toughest opponent we’ve faced: even though there have been ones where we’ve won fewer games, Ivo wasn’t as good then. He put pressure on Ivo each service game, and was able to break twice in each set. He only gave Ivo one chance to break him in the match, which Ivo capitalized on, but was not able to keep it up and win the set.

It’s been a good run, and hopefully we can keep this kind of thing going in the future.

[Togtdyalttai]

Videos from Costa Rica F2 qualifying:

[Togtdyalttai]

Videos from Costa Rica F2 main draw:

[Togtdyalttai]

Israel F1



We’ve left Central America and flown halfway around the world to Israel just to play another tournament on cement. I should mention that we took a week off to travel, train, and rest. Ivo’s serve is now at 70 power, 65 consistency, and 65 precision, and his speed is still at 40. No other stats have any points in them. Unfortunately, Ivo’s ranking didn’t rise too much—he’s still in the 900s—so we have to enter yet another qualifying draw.

This time, we’ve drawn Filippo Messori (ITA), a defender with not much to brag about. This is another one of those “If Ivo doesn’t win, it’s time to hang up the racket” matches, and I won’t say any more about it.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Filippo Messori (ITA) 6-2 6-1

Ivo didn’t play particularly well; Messori’s just an awful player. He couldn’t really do anything. He broke Ivo once, but was basically inept at holding his own serve.

Vasco Antunes (POR) is Ivo’s next opponent. He’s essentially a little bit worse version of Behrend, so it should be pretty difficult. His serve and forehand are good, but everything else is worse than Behrend’s, so I think we have a chance here. Another thing I might add is that he’s the first lefty we’ve faced, though I don’t think that makes too much of a difference in this game.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Vasco Antunes (POR) 3-6 6-1 6-4

Ivo was up a break in all 3 sets. In the first, Antunes broke back and kept it up. In the 2nd, Ivo played unbelievably and came very close to bageling Antunes. In the 3rd, a server’s duel with just one break ensued, with Ivo taking advantage of his sole opportunity.

Didac Perez (ESP) is our final opponent in the qualifying draw. He’s your typical Spaniard: a defender with good groundies but not much else. It should be tough though, because his groundies are in the 50s. It’ll be all about whether Ivo can stay at net or if Perez can lob him and get him back to the baseline.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Didac Perez (ESP) 6-4 6-4

It wasn’t easy, but Ivo kept holding serve and it turned out that that was all he needed to do. Perez gave him a chance at breaking in each set, and ivo took that chance. In the second set, there were break points against Ivo’s serve, but he saved them with solid net play.

In the first round we have Javier Genaro-Martinez, another Spanish defender! This guy’s like Perez except he’s faster but his groundstrokes aren’t as good. If we can beat one, why not the other? (yes, I know I’ve been caught dead with this before)

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Javier Genaro-Martinez (ESP) 7-5 1-6 6-0

The second set was an absolute mental lapse, but the rest was pretty good. Ivo got broken 3 total times in the match, but he broke JGM 4 times. Nothing of Ivo’s was particularly solid, but it’s good to get a win when you’re not playing at your best.

Next up is Dante Cipulli (ARG), the counterpuncher we lost to in 3 sets in Guatemala F1. I think Ivo’s improved since then, and he should win.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Dante Cipulli (ARG) 7-5 6-3

This match was tougher than the score suggests. There were a TON of breaks, and Cipulli never let Ivo pull out to a huge lead. Although it was easy enough to break the Cipulli serve, Cipulli was up in Ivo’s grill no matter how good the serve coming at him was. I’m glad to get through this match and to make our 2nd straight quarterfinal and to take revenge on ol' Cipulli!

In the Quarters, we’ve got Steve Guy (NZL), a power baseliner with skills very similar to Didac Perez’s (groundstrokes in the 50s, not much else to speak of). I don’t know how much difference the style will make, but something tells me this guy’s (no pun intended) going to be harder to take down.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Steve Guy (NZL) 7-6(5) 7-6(4)

This match was a dandy. Guy broke Ivo in the first game, but let him back into it with a total of 7 break points in his first two service games, with Ivo capitalizing on the 7th. From there the serve prevailed until the tiebreak, which Ivo took with solid serving and opportunistic play on Guy’s serve. The second set transpired in a similar fashion to the first: Ivo got up a break in the first game and held onto it until 5-4, when he failed to serve for the match. Then each man held serve once more to get to the tiebreak, where Ivo won all but one point on serve and used his chances on Guy’s serve. Good to make our first semi, but let’s get further!

Eric Taino (PHI) is up next. He’s a puncher with groundies in the 50s, a decent serve, and some solid volleys to top it off. Should be another difficult match. I should also mention that he took out Eric Prodon, the guy who let Ivo have only 2 games in Guatemala F2, in the quarterfinals. He’s also a lefty, and if Vasco Antunez was any indication, that means more trouble for Ivo.

Eric Taino (PHI) def. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-3 6-1

Taino was very tough to do anything against. Whenever Ivo would put a big serve in, Taino would just come up with a better pass. His groundstrokes and net play were way too solid, and he was able to take Ivo off the net with lobs when his first passing shot failed. It’s been a good run, but it’s still a bit disappointing to lose this badly.

[Togtdyalttai]

Switzerland F1


The ITF has been kind to Ivo and awarded him a wild card for this tournament, played on Carpet. It’s good to finally be in a main draw without having to go through qualies.

Ivo’s first opponent in this tournament is (gasp) Spanish volleyer Francisco Roig. Roig has volleys in the high 20s, pathetic groundstrokes, and a weak serve. Should be an easy one.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Francisco Roig (ESP) 6-0 6-2

Ivo just kept blocking Roig’s serve past him as he approached the net. In the first set, that constituted virtually every point on the Spaniard’s serve, while in the 2nd there were a few more troubles on the return for Ivo. On serve, Dr. Ivo dissected Roig with surgical precision.

In the 2nd round, we have Tom Vanhoudt (BEL). This guy should theoretically be an awesome serve-volley player. He has a very precise serve (80%), although it isn’t particularly powerful (32) and his net skills are in the 70s. And yet, this style should be the easiest for Ivo to win against. Let’s see how good a volleyer we can beat.

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) def. Tom Vanhoudt (BEL) 6-3 6-4

Surprisingly, this match was pretty straightforward. Ivo was broken in the first game of the match, but immediately broke back and from there on out, he was always up a break. Ivo held serve easily, and on Vanhoudt’s serve he was able to come up with some good passes when necessary. This is by far our easiest run to a quarterfinal so far.

Michel Kratochvil (SUI) is Ivo’s next opponent. He’s yet another volleyer, but this guy has some groundstrokes to go along with his volleys. All of his stats are in the 50s, so that should make it difficult, but the fact that he’s a volleyer always negates some of that difficulty. I’ll take Ivo in this one.

Michel Kratochvil (SUI) def. Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 2-6 6-1 6-4

Another loss, another tale of missed opportunities. Ivo had chances to get back on serve in the final set, but couldn’t capitalize. Kratochvil improved his play over the course of the match. It’s been another tournament with mixed emotions at the end. Ivo played well, but could’ve gotten by Kratochvil.