Novak Djokovic: “I Do Feel Like Ivo Karlovic”

Novak Djokovic says that he feels Ivo Karlovic, who is one of the biggest servers of the game, after he sealed a record fifth title at the Rolex Paris Masters 2019 on Sunday, cruising past though the next-generation star Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4 in the finals on Sunday.

On his way to a businesslike victory, the 16-time Grand Slam champion did not lose a single service game having won  80 percent of his service points. On his way to the 66-minute victory on Sunday, Novak Djokovic blasted the ‘T’ with his first serves, hitting 65 percent of his serves in that area. The 32-year-old hit 74 percent of his first serves on the Canadian’s forehand side on the deuce court and 56 percent of his first serves on Shapovalov’s backhand on the ad court.

In the post-match press conference, Novak Djokovic admitted that he feels like Ivo Karlovic. He said: “On the rare occasions like today, I do feel like Karlovic. It’s quite frustrating to play against a player like Ivo Karlovic, a player that serves very well.”

Novak Djokovic did not drop a single set en routing to his 34th Masters 1000 title at the Paris-Bercy and the Serb credits his serve for his success throughout the week.

“It feels great when you actually can get out of your serve a lot of free points. And that was the case for me, not just today, but throughout this week. I haven’t dropped a set,” the World No.2 noted.

Shapovalov also won 83 percent of his first serve points but it was the second serves that made the difference. While Djokovic claimed 80 percent of his second serve points, the 20-year-old could manage to win only 18 percent of second serve points.

Djokovic further added, “Serve was one of the definitely best shot in my game and that allowed me to kind of also feel more comfortable and more confident from baseline.”

Ivo Karlovic is the tallest ranked tennis player in history and holds the all-time record for career aces with 13,552 aces.