Ivo Karlovic @ the 2003 US Open
At the 2003 US Open tennis tournament, a large Croatian crowd kept running between two tennis courts, because two superstars were playing at the same time. On one court, IVAN LJUBICIC was winning 3 sets and diagonally opposed tennis court, IVO KARLOVIC beat Felix Mantilla, also in three sets. This was an overwhelming victory for Karlovic, considering he entered US Open ranked 103rd versus Mantilla ranked 21st best in the world.
To become a tennis champion, one needs to posses the technical skills as well as an abundance of confidence. The 6-foot-10 movie star handsome Ivo Karlovic, at age of 24, says, "I had a great year and I feel confident."
This summer at Wimbledon, Ivo was ranked 203-rd player in the world. As a qualifier he entered the Grand Slam for the first time in his life and achieved an ultimate upset by beating #1 seed Lleyton Hewitt.
Since then, Karlovic won two smaller tennis events. He entered the second Grand Slam event as a qualifier at the US Open. Now he is ranked 103rd in the world and #3 in Croatia.
In talking to Ivo, who suffers from speech impediment stuttering, one wonders how he will deal with media attention. At US Open 1,500 media credentials was issued. When a tennis player enters the media room, after a tennis match, the reporters are there to analyze and break down every point of the tennis game. They want to know everything and anything about his personal life. Of course, only high-ranking tennis players are invited into the media room. Again, Karlovic embraces the nerve wrecking situation "I'm looking forward to bigger crowds at my matches. I'm just concentrating and focusing to win and with that comes media attention."
His serve is his weapon. At 133-mph aces.
Grand Slam events with thousands of people in the attendance are huge business events for tennis sponsors. Besides tennis, entertaining is the name of the game. While the rock quartet was performing "Good" from the band's newest release "Perfect Change", Ivo Karlovic was doing just that. Playing good and making a perfect change in his tennis career.
