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!90955012 by Pete Bodo*
I believe the correct term for what we're seeing play out at the Sporstka Dvorana in beautiful downtown Porec, Croatia, is "battle royale." Sigh. Another day, another sports cliche, like tower of power, or fearsome giant, or ace machine - all of which are appropriate descriptions of Ivo Karlovic, who yesterday served 78 aces in his epic five-setter with Radek Stepanek. Karlovic thereby shattered the all-time single-match record by a whopping 23 - that's no typo: twenty-three! - aces. . . unreturnables. . .untouchables, unseeables - call them what you will.
The match was indoors, but don't jump to any conclusions. It was on red clay. That's right, 78 aces on clay. I'm thinking if it was a hard court, or worse yet, indoor carpet, Karlovic might have taken that ace count to triple figure. Can you imagine, 100 aces in a match? Would that be possible, in the number of games he had to work with?
Of course, because we'll assume that the fifth set would not have ended on carpet the way it did after Stepanek and Karlovic split four tiebreakers and then went 16-14 in the fifth. They might still be playing on a fast carpet, because Karlovic may not have the game to break Stepanek, and the latter does not have the 12-foot long right arm that would enable him to get a racquet on Karlovic's bombs.
Man, do you love Davis Cup, or what?
That Karlovic somehow managed to lose the match is downright bizarre - hey, how did he do that? My interpretation is that it's a sign from on high that it is, in fact, a fair world. Nobody who rains down aces with the impunity of a Karlovic's ought to be able to actually win matches because of them, right?
Ah, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth in Porec tonight, for not only did Karlovic lose, he saw his game opponent erase four match points in a match that lasted five hours and 59 minutes - the fourth longest in Davis Cup history. And the 82 games it incorporated is a joint-record (for the tiebreaker era). And to make matters worse, Tomas Berdych then plunged a dagger into Croatian hearts by prevailing over Marin Cilic in another five-setter. Cilic battled back from two-sets-to-none down, but Berdych, to the surprise of many who follow him, hung tough.
So the Czech Republic swept on day one, as did the Spanish team against the Cinderella squad from Israel. Are we entirely sure that the teams with the seemingly insurmountable lead will win their respective ties?
I'm afraid I don't have much hope for Israel, not with Spain's excellent doubles team of Feliciano Lopez and Tommy Robredo in yoke, although I guess you can't overestimate Robredo's ability to screw up in Davis Cup. Like the Israelis,the Croatians are behind the eight ball but good. The Czech doubles team of Lukas Dlouhy (the newly minted US Open doubles champ with partner Leander Paes) and Jan Herynch has to be an odds-on favorite against the relative unknowns, Roko Karanusic and Lovro Zovko. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so perhaps the Croatians have a trick up their sleeve. They could send Cilic and Karlovic out there (albeit at the risk of getting busted for animal abuse).
But hey, you can always tell Karlovic to just stand there and serve - the rest will take care of itself.
After cutting Karlovic down to size, Stepanek praised the crowd, which was surprisingly fair through the entire 9 hour and 47 minute day - perhaps because plenty of Czechs made the trip to nearby Croatia. Stepanek said, "It was just an honor. That's why we play tennis, because of fans like this."
And that's why we love Davis Cup - because of days like this.
Consider this the Davis Crisis Center for today; I'm posting it early so that those of you who want to comment when play gets underway have some place to go.