Karlovic vs. Monfils: Citi Open title match pits the old vs. the not-quite-so-old

After 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic beat Jack Sock in the quarterfinals of the Citi open on Friday, he was asked what it’s like to play tournaments in which some fellow competitors are teenagers. “Yeah…I could be their daddy,” Karlovic quipped.

Following a pause, he continued, “And, I mean, who knows? Maybe I am.” And then, with a smile almost as big as his wing-span, “No, no, I’m joking.”

But this is no joke: just three years shy of 40, Karlovic is playing some of the best tennis of his career. He is ranked 35th in the world and is projected to reach at least No. 27 on Monday even if he loses Sunday’s championship match against Gael Monfils. The 6’11” Croat is coming off a title last week on the grass courts of Newport, which gave him seven winner’s trophies in a professional career that dates back to 2000.

At the time Karlovic announced himself on tour with a first-round Wimbledon upset of defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in June of 2003, only one man in the top 10 was older than 28–No. 1 Andre Agassi (33). An incredible six players in the top 10 were 23 or younger. So after Karlovic took down Hewitt as a 24-year-old, he assumed he would have about three more seasons of peak tennis remaining.

“Right now it’s almost 10 years later (than when I thought I’d be finished),” he explained. “And I’m still here, winning matches.”

And Karlovic will soon have chance of winning one against a teenager–but not on Sunday. Washington, D.C.’s No. 13 seed, who is set to face 18-year-old American Taylor Fritz in the Toronto first round next week, will battle Gael Monfils for the Citi Open title. An 18-year age gap was one more Alexander Zverev victory away from coming to fruition, but the 19-year-old German succumbed to Monfils 6-4, 6-0 on Saturday evening.

The Frenchman has not yet hit 30 (he is a little more than a month away from doing so), but he has been on the circuit for 13 years–four fewer than Karlovic. He once peaked as high as seventh in the rankings in 2011, but his propensity to care more about putting on a show than winning a tennis match sent him tumbling back down the chart. Of course, a plethora of injuries did not help.

Fast forward to 2016, however, and Monfils is stellar 25-9 for the season with quarterfinal performances at the Australian Open, Indian Wells Masters, and Miami Masters to go along with a runner-up finish in Monte-Carlo. If not for an injury and illness that all but knocked him off the tour in May and June, the world No. 17 would almost certainly be in World Tour Finals qualification position.

“I think have a different view about what’s going on; maybe it’s the way I’ve been working with my new team,” Monfils explained. “Definitely age has helped me. I think I grew up.”

His recent results seem to agree with that assessment, but it doesn’t mean he can’t be young at heart.

“I’m still a young guy who can play Pokemon,” Monfils laughed, adding that he is one of tennis’ top Pokemon players along with Alexandr Dolgopolov and John Millman.

On Sunday afternoon, arguably the sport’s most entertaining player will be seen not frantically trying to find Pokemon, but instead chasing after the sports’s biggest serves. Gotta catch ’em all!

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