Can Murray Resist Karlovic’s High-Power Service?

The former Wimbledon champion faces one of the most terrifying servers in the world.

The fourth round of the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, Wimbledon, brings forth one of the most exciting encounters so far on the tournament. Andy Murray, current racquet number three in the world will face Ivo Karlovic, one of the players with the most frightening serves in the world and also the oldest player left on the tournament. According to the online sportsbooks in the EU, Murray is the favorite in the match.

• Murray vs Karlovic in the 1/8 final of Wimbledon
• Karlovic’s service, one of the most dangerous on the tournament
• Murray will oppose by holding his own service games

However, everybody is cautious not to take this prognosis too far, since according to tennis experts the Croatian still hasn’t said the final word.

Ivo Karlovic was better than Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the third round, eliminating the French tennis player in four sets, three of which ended in a tie-break. Murrey, on the other side, defeated in the third round the Italian player Andreas Seppi also in four sets. However his match was less effort asking than the one of Karlovic, winning with 6-2, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.

The service is the most powerful weapon of the Croatian

It is commonly known by tennis fans that the most dangerous weapon of the Croatian player is his high speed service, which many opponents find difficult to counter. Karlovic is the giant in world’s tennis with 2.11 m and a strong right arm that launces serves going over 135 mph, reports gambling news. Last Saturday he succeeded to serve more than 40 aces against Tsonga, becoming the first tennis player on the tournament that served this or bigger amount of aces in three consecutive matches. How should Murray oppose the serves of the Croatian giant is one of the most frequently asked questions by the British sports journalist nowadays.

Murray stressed that he had special preparations for this match. As usual when he plays against big servers he was practicing with his coach a way to oppose the serves from far from the line. He also added that he don’t like to have in mind where opponents usually serve and prefers to follows his intuition during the match.

If we compare the serve game of both of the players the advantages go absolutely on the account of Karlovic. The Croatian played 29 matches this season, noting behind his name 619 aces and 163 of them on seven matches played on grass courts on the tournaments in Halle, Queens and Wimbledon. Murray on the other side hit only 262 aces in 45 matches, and only 36 on the six matches he played on grass this year. Having this statistics into consideration it becomes easy to understand why those that bet on sports in the EU, give Murray only minimal chances to have more aces than Karlovic in their duel this afternoon.

How to oppose Karlovic’s serves?

According to Murray it will be essential in the match against Karlovic to hold his own serving game. This is an already tested recipe from their encounter in 2012 on the tournament. If he succeeds to return the services and play a match with more than six exchanges per point then the chances to win the match will be far bigger for the Scottish. He also told the British media that Karlovic is a dangerous opponent and that he has maximum respect for him, appreciating his performances so far on the tournament.

The 36 years old Karlovic on the other side qualified today’s match against Murray as a duel that he will, first of all, enjoy although it brings lots of uncertainties. “I like what I do. I’m having fun.”, said the Croatian veteran. “I don’t know how it’s going to be [against Murray]. I have chance, for sure. If I’m able to do this at my age, it is unbelievable. I don’t know for how much longer I can do this, but right now I don’t have an issue with injuries. I am healthy, motivated. So I will go on.”

Whether Murray will justify the role of favorite in today’s match is something that many tennis fans all over the globe are eager to see. The match is played at Wimbledon’s Centre Court, after the match between Serena and Venus Williams.