Is Dr. Ivo the exception to the 'rules'? *Possible Spoiler*

[DariusRaiden]

After witnessing how well Karlovic played on clay, and the fact that he is enormous and has a heinous ground game by clay court standards, I can't help but think that he is the exception to the traditional school of thought about different surfaces in tennis.

First off, he just won a title ON CLAY. Obviously, clay is seen as a surface where speed and consistent, safe groundstrokes are viewed as a key, but Ivo has neither of those. Not to mention that he has arguably the worst return in the top 100.

I seem to think that Ivo's serve is so good that he flat out changes the rules. Obviously, for a serve and volley player, you want to get into the net as quickly as possible. Normally on clay you do get closer to the net for the first volley, but the fact that the serve is slowed down so much makes this harmful for most serve and volley players. Ivo's serve is so big though, it seems like he does get closer to the net without having his serve significantly hampered by the clay court.

Additionaly, Ivo still holds serve easily on clay. Normally players hold much less but since his serve is so good he doesn't have to worry about being broken regardless of the surface. As a result, because the clay is so slow, he really does get a better look at the return. Compare this to grass or hardcourt where yes, Ivo holds easily, but can't break often because he doesn't get a look at a return.

Anyway, I'm just surprised I guess. What do you think?

[Starwind]

I think he's a straight balla. The tournament wasn't very strong, though.

[Moose Malloy]

All this may be true, but the most important factor in this win, is that Houston had such a poor field. It only had 2 spaniards & 4 south americans in the field, its not like Ivo was beating up on Gonzalez or Ferrer.

Marc Rosset's best surface was clay & that guy was as slow as can be.

There are so many more events on clay than other surfaces, its not surprising when a non clay courter does well once in a while. Todd Martin won Barcelona a few years ago, Rafter & Henman made the FO semis, Philippoussis has a clay title as well.

Still Karlovic has played surprisingly decent on clay, he lost in 5 sets to Hrbaty at last year's French & made the QF at Barcelona(beating Davydenko!)

[The Gorilla]

ivanisevic all over again.

[Mikael]

I think it was green clay, definitely not as slow as European clay. Blake made it to the semis beating Monaco on the way, and I think I remember Sampras winning a green clay court event back in 97 or 98 against Stoltenberg in the final. Heck even Mardy Fish won a match, against Vassallo Arguello no less.

[Fedace]

I am so happy to see Dr. Ivo doing so well. I had the chance to meet him at the RCA tournament and he is the nicest player you will ever meet. He is little shy cause his speech but he is very easy going and down to earth.

[latinking]

He is pretty old,for tennis anyway. He has seemed to come out of nowhere and is such a interesting player. Why was he not pushed further at a younger age? Or was he? With such a natural talent ( his size/ serve) seems like he could have been a big star. I like him alot, and seems like many people do.

[ATXtennisaddict]

I heard the har tru surface was playing pretty fast.

[Max G.]

Originally Posted by latinking

He is pretty old,for tennis anyway. He has seemed to come out of nowhere and is such a interesting player. Why was he not pushed further at a younger age? Or was he? With such a natural talent ( his size/ serve) seems like he could have been a big star. I like him alot, and seems like many people do.

He hasn't really come out of nowhere, people noticed him when he beat Hewitt at Wimbledon a couple years back. He's been around since then, racking up occasional wins.

[Amone]

Is he actually a PhD or something? Why is he called "Dr Ivo," if not, and if so, what is said PhD in?

[Kobble]

I doubt any tennis player active is a PhD. From undergraduate to getting you doctorate is 8 years. Maybe seven if you loaded up on summer courses from the start. Tennis players do not have 7 years to spare.

[FitzRoy]

Originally Posted by Amone

Is he actually a PhD or something? Why is he called "Dr Ivo," if not, and if so, what is said PhD in?

He has a PhD in serving BOMBs.

[chiru]

Another thing to keep in mind. On clay the reason why s & v doesn't work is that a player will hit a big serve, get a weak reply and "put away" the volley. except on clay, theres basically no such thing. 7/10 the opposite player has another look at a passing shot, and thats where the s & v man loses. except when your almost 7' tall, its real hard to get passed. even so, karlovic only won cuz he had such a weak field. gives you an idea how a guy with such a monster serve and gigantic court coverage still is pretty ineffective as a clay courter.

[patrick922]

one thing the commentators mentioned was that the tournament used womens us open balls which were lighter and had less felt, hence it would travel faster through the clay. the tournament does this so the americans like roddick, blake, and fish have a better chance of winning. and so karlovic took advantage of the fast balls to win agains zabaleta. also the hartru isnt as fast as the european clay. hartru plays similar to a slow hard court with sliding.

[Max G.]

Originally Posted by chiru

even so, karlovic only won cuz he had such a weak field.

The field wasn't any weaker than at some tournaments. Haas was in it - top 10 player (though not anymore, not after Karlovic beat him). Blake was there, also top 10.

Certainly not a particularly amazing field, not really any great claycourters around, but it's doing a big disservice to Karlovic to dismiss this as "just a weak field". No weaker than any other event of the same caliber, I think.

[Shabazza]

Originally Posted by patrick922

one thing the commentators mentioned was that the tournament used womens us open balls which were lighter and had less felt, hence it would travel faster through the clay. the tournament does this so the americans like roddick, blake, and fish have a better chance of winning. and so karlovic took advantage of the fast balls to win agains zabaleta. also the hartru isnt as fast as the european clay. hartru plays similar to a slow hard court with sliding.

I'm pretty sure that's a typo, right?

Regarding Karlovic and PhD - I'm pretty sure I read somewhere he has one.

[tintin]

first of all green clay ain't really clay
this one was obviously way faster than any other surfaces
hey winning on green "clay" doesn't mean anything because they are so different,Karlovic wouldn't be able to win on the real clay with such a score
Roddick won Houston I don't know how many times and his best result on the real thing was in Rome in 2002 where he made the semis

[ivan987]

I think that Karlovic plays fine on clay because it it slower and that makes him able to hit some groundstrokes and increases his chance of taking opponents serve.

[Nuke]

You guys wondering about a PhD: he's called Dr. Ivo because it sounds like Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers movie. Just a jokey nickname.

I didn't see any of the tournament.

But Houston used to import red clay from Europe for the tournament. If they have changed to green clay for this year does anyone know why they did it?

Congratulations to Ivo by the way - his first title, great stuff.