Sunday 5 July 2015 16:51, UK
Ace king Ivo Karlovic is aiming to upset a nation by blasting Andy Murray out of Wimbledon with his siege-gun serve.
The 36-year-old Croatian booked a last-16 tie with Murray at the All England Club by dispatching Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to become the oldest man to reach Wimbledon's second week since 1976.
Karlovic dismissed 13th seed Tsonga 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (11-9) on Saturday, reaching 136 aces for the tournament to top this year's Wimbledon leaderboard. Now he will meet Murray in the fourth round after the British No 1 eased past Andreas Seppi in four sets.
Nicknamed 'Dr Ivo' by fans, Karlovic suffered viral meningitis two years ago but has made a full recovery to climb to No 25 in the world rankings.
"Yeah that could be not nice I guess, but that's what I'll try to do," said Karlovic when asked if he plans to dash British hopes at Wimbledon.
Zagreb native Karlovic has served more aces than any other player in tennis history, and peppered Frenchman Tsonga into submission with his chief weapon in south west London.
The tallest player – at 6ft 11in – in the history of the ATP Tour rankings takes a size 16 shoe and boasted the fastest serve of all time at 156mph until Sam Groth hit 163pmh in China in 2012.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Murray struggled with shoulder and back problems against Italy's Seppi, but came through 6-2 6-1 1-6 6-1.
Murray is renowned as one of tennis' top returners of serve, and will need all that acumen on Monday, but has beaten Karlovic in all of the pair's five meetings.
"Whenever you win you feel in good form," said Karlovic, who set a new record of 45 aces in a three-set ATP Tour match against Tomas Berdych in Halle last month.
"I feel good. It will not be easy (against Murray) in the next round, but if I continue serving like this I will definitely have an opportunity.
"I know every game is different, so I always try to start serving well, and if it's a lot of aces then things get easier.
"Each point is a new one, so I don't feel like anyone can beat me. I just always go on to the next one, the next point.
"I've never beaten Murray, so now it's an opportunity to. I feel good, I like what I do. I'm having fun. So I don't know how it will turn out, but I have a chance, for sure."
