Ivo Karlovic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(9) during third-round action on Saturday at Wimbledon, but not before some controversy in the fourth-set tiebreaker.
On Tsonga’s set point with Karlovic serving at 6-7, the Frenchman smacked a forehand pass attempt. Karlovic answered with a winning volley–or was it? The Croat was awarded the point and neither the umpire nor the players made any mention of a possible infraction. Karlovic ended up winning the set and the match shortly thereafter.
Live and on replay:
[polldaddy poll=8964382]
[polldaddy poll=8964384]
Brad Gilbert said that unless it is an obviously deliberate double hit, then it is no longer called like it used to be (whenever that was).
First I’ve heard of it though.
Yes, they did discuss this on ESPN today. I had no idea what they were talking about, because I had not seen that match. But then they showed it and discussed the rule. He said that he doesn’t think Karlovic even realized that he double hit it. So he doesn’t think it was intentional, but he still did it and that was set point for Tsonga.
I would think it doesn’t matter if you do it deliberately or not. A double hit is a double hit.
Murray has the pleasure of playing Karlovic next, but he has a lopsided h2h against him. Murray said in his post-match interview that he will need his ROS to be working against Ivo. No kidding!
Nobody calls that anymore. Ivo’s point. About time he caught a break. The last time he played Andy here they called 11 foot faults on him. Disgraceful desperate attempt to help Andy out. I guess they want him to serve a foot behind the baseline.
Oh filter. Really? Ivo needs to catch a break? Why? He stands there and bangs aces all over the place and has an insane height advantage. But he never developed a truly complete game and that is why he hasn’t done much in this sport. I don’t think he’s any more due a break than anyone else.
If Ivo foot faults, then they will call it. It’s not a conspiracy. It’s called rules.
Ivo is a having a true career Renaissance this season, and is arguably playing the best he ever has. I think that while it was a double hit, there is still a legitimate possibility that he may not have noticed what happened at the time. Even still, there are very few players in the game that would call that against themselves in such a position. I feel that you are being biased against him just because he’s so tall. He had no control over his height, but he did have control over how he adjusted his game to fit his body. In my mind, it is amazing that someone so tall is able to play at such an elite level at this stage of his career. I don’t think Murray will need any help on the foot faults to win this upcoming match. He will be able to get it done with his movement and extra motivation from the home crowd. Still, good for Karlovic, he is having a great year and hopefully he will be able to continue the success after Murray dismisses him today.