Ivo Karlovic formally declares his retirement from tennis

Ivo Karlovic has officially announced his retirement from tennis after not playing in a tournament match for two and a half years.

The 6 foot, 11-inch Croatian stated, “I`ve had a very gratifying, unorthodox and long career coming from extremely humble beginnings, especially for a tennis player,” in a post on X, the previous Twitter platform, on Wednesday.

Karlovic, who turns 45 next Monday, last played in an ATP event in October 2021 when he lost a second-round qualifying match at Indian Wells, California. Approximately six weeks prior, he had lost a singles match in the US Open’s opening round of a Grand Slam competition.

In addition to eight singles titles, a record of 371 wins, 346 losses, and $10.1 million in prize money, he concluded his 25-year career. In August 2008, he peaked at No. 14 in the singles rankings.

In 2009, he reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, which was his greatest Grand Slam singles achievement. In 2005, he was also the team captain when Croatia defeated Slovakia in the Davis Cup final to win the nation’s first-ever championship.

His career total of 13,728 aces placed him second only behind John Isner’s 14,470. In a best-of-three set encounter, Karlovic holds the record for most aces with 45 from Halle in 2015. Two weeks later, at Wimbledon, he became the only player to hit at least 40 aces in three consecutive games.

Six-time Grand Slam singles champion Boris Becker congratulated Karlovic on his X, calling his serve “the best in tennis”.

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