Ivo Karlovic became just the second ATP player to reach the 10,000 ace mark on Tuesday in Montreal as he took down Milos Raonic in straight sets and inched closer to the ATP’s all-time ace leader, Goran Ivanisevic in the process.
Like so many of Dr. Ivo’s past opponents, Raonic was quite befuddled about how to return the rocket serves of the tall Croatian:
For those who missed the match, here is Dr. Ivo’s 10,000th ace. Like so many that came before it, it basically took the racquet out of his opponent’s hands.
Karlovic hit 22 aces in total during the course of his 7-6(1), 7-6(1) victory over Raonic to set up a third-round encounter with either Jeremy Chardy or Leonardo Mayer in Montreal. The 36-year-old also passed the 1,000 ace mark for the season on Tuesday, finishing the night with 1,009 and taking his career count to 10,004. That number leaves him very close to Ivanisevic’s total of 10,183.
Karlovic has played 527 matches in his career to get to his current tally, while Ivanisevic needed 895 matches to reach his total. Here’s some other tweets to celebrate Dr. Ivo’s accomplishment.