LONDON, 24 June 2003 — Towering Ivo Karlovic of Croatia starred in his own fantastical Wimbledon fairy tale yesterday, beating champion Lleyton Hewitt to create history on the world’s most famous tennis stage.
Karlovic, the Croatian qualifier, standing 6 foot 10 inches (2.083 meter) in his bare feet, is the tallest man to have played the grand slam in its 127-year history.
But despite this, he barely registers on the tennis radar.
Until yesterday’s first round match he had played just 10 matches at full Tour level — and never at a grand slam.
But in front of a spellbound Centre Court crowd, the Goliath downed the Australian top seed 1-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4.
It was an incredible result and one which left Hewitt saddled with the unwanted tag as first champion since tennis turned professional in 1968 to lose in the first round.
“I was a little bit lucky, but that’s life,” Karlovic stuttered.
Clearly enjoying his new-found celebrity, he added: “I really enjoyed playing this. I am excited... (but) I believe I’m going to realize some other day that I won.”
Karlovic struggles with his speech, suffering from a severe stammer, but it needed no words at all to carve his own piece of sporting history.
The fairy tale finish was more outrageous than even the plots of the Rocky movies from which Hewitt draws inspiration, but Karlovic made it happen in front of a spellbound Wimbledon Centre Court.
Karlovic told reporters that within moments of his victory he had received a call from compatriot and 2001 champion Goran Ivanisevic.
“He was always my hero,” the 24-year-old said. “I spoke with him just now and he congratulated me on my win.”
Hewitt left court shell-shocked, beaten by a man who had scraped together just four full Tour level wins and $155,772 in three years hacking round the circuit.
But all the Australian’s millions and tournament titles could not save him from his fate. Only once before in the tournament’s 126-year history had a champion lost in the opening round. That was in 1967 when Manuel Santana lost to Charlie Pasarell, and Hewitt will have much soul-searching to do.
“It’s hard to say now that I will go away and learn something from this but yeah, hopefully I will,” Hewitt said.
“Sure as defending champion it is disappointing but I’d be disappointed losing first round at Wimbledon any time.”
His girlfriend Kim Clijsters followed Hewitt on to court and was clearly in a hurry to get off and console him.
The women’s second seed swept past Paraguayan Rossana Neffa-De Ios Rios 6-0, 6-0 in just 32 minutes.
“Of course I would have loved him to win, but tennis is tennis,” she said. “If your opponent’s better there is not much more you can do.
“It’s not nice for him to go through this now but I am sure he will get over it.”
Clijsters was joined in round two by fourth seed Venus Williams who battered her way past qualifier Stanislava Hrozenska 6-2, 6-2 in 50 minutes.
Looking every inch the queen of sunny Court Two in her silver tiara-like hairband and dangling earrings, the twice former champion simply overpowered the World No. 194.
Former champion Lindsay Davenport shrugged off her recent injury woes to battle past Australian wild card Samantha Stosur 7-6, 7-5 in the first round at Wimbledon.
The fifth-seeded American, who retired from the fourth round of the French Open after being troubled by a pinched nerve on her toe, struggled with her mobility throughout the one hour 24-minute contest as she was given the run-around by Stosur.
Men’s fifth seed Andy Roddick blasted past Italy’s Davide Sanguinetti 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. The 20-year-old American, fresh from winning on grass at the Stella Artois Championships, rained down 14 aces in a devastating display of power hitting on Court One.
Roddick, who has never been beyond the third round at the All England Club, will face fellow big server Rusedski in the second round. The Briton, a winner on Nottingham’s grass last week, beat Alexander Waske of Germany 7-6, 7-5, 7-6. The clash promises to be an explosive one. Roddick and Rusedski share the record of 149 miles (239.8 km) per hour for the world’s fastest serve.
Britain’s Lee Childs showed Rusedski the way, beating Russian 33rd seed Nikolay Davydenko 2-6, 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 6-2, while fourth seed Roger Federer took a step towards burying his Wimbledon demons.
The Swiss, a loser in the opening round in three of his four previous visits here, beat South Korea’s Lee Hyung-taik 6-3, 6-3, 7-6.
Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, who has grabbed as many headlines for her looks as her tennis, reached the second round at Wimbledon yesterday with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over France’s Marion Bartoli.
The number nine seed, who played her first grand slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon last year, let Bartoli race into a 4-2 lead in the first set but then quickly established her supremacy. The second set was a formality for Hantuchova once she had honed her baseline accuracy against Bartoli, who was making her Wimbledon debut. The match, played on court two which is known as the graveyard of champions, was all over in 75 minutes.
South African veteran Amanda Coetzer made hard work of edging past Dally Randriantefy of Madagascar in the first .
The seventeenth seed admitted she lost momentum and struggled in the second set but she recovered to win 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
Coetzer can now set her sights on beating her previous best at Wimbledon of a fourth round appearance back in 1994.
The 31-year-old, competing in her 14th Wimbledon singles championship, cannot even remember her first appearance at the All England Club.
But the stylish pint-sized competitor believes she is in the right frame of mind to make steady progress in the tournament.
