Roger Federer's coach praises Ivo Karlovic's success: 'He is older than me'
Roger Federer's coach Ivan Ljubicic praised Ivo Karlovic's success at a late stage in his career. Ljubicic and Karlovic, both coming from Croatia, shared a lot of moments together. “He’s older than me!", Ljubicic told the New York Times in Indian Wells.
Karlovic is not surprised at seeing so many players counting on big weapons like serve and forehand. “If you look at any sport, everywhere there are taller guys, so I know that is the future in tennis."
Recalling his difficult childhood, Karlovic added: “In Zagreb, there were not a lot of airstrikes, but I spent a lot of time in the bomb shelters. It was always airstrike warnings.”
Karlovic also recalled the beginning of his career. “It was not easy: I was looking around at all these huge courts I never had a chance to play on before. I lost the first set 6-1, but after that I just kind of calmed down and started playing my game, and then after the match, it was not easy because everybody wanted to know, who am I? I was just thinking to myself, this is what you have to do if you want to become a good player,” he said of post-match news conferences. “You’re going to have to do it.”
Karlovic still has an ultimate passion for tennis although he admitted that sometimes flying to other parts around the world is tough: “I had to leave on Christmas Day to get to a tournament in India. So everybody was home. We had friends over, family, and then after lunch, I was on the way to the airport. It was really difficult. My kids were crying and stuff, so it wasn’t easy, but on the other hand, I am doing this also because of them, you know? So they don’t have it as hard as I had it. So maybe that evens out the pain for me.”
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2JlnNdI
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