Did Dr Ivo Falsely Accuse Fan in Newport?

[scoop]

Ivo Karlovic lost 67 76 67 to Peter Gojowyczk in the Dell Technologies Newport Hall of Fame Open quarterfinals on Thursday. And after the match the defending champion apparently engaged in a verbal spat with a fan.

Exiting the court to cheers, Karlovic, age 38, did not proceed directly to the locker room area at the porch. Instead Karlovic stepped into the canopied bleacher and, from my view about 30 feet away in the same bleacher, appeared to take pictures with fans. Then he seemed to engage in a conversation with an older tennis fan, who was at least sixty years of age. Maybe older.

I could not hear any words but I did see Karlovic point angrily at the man. Moments later green shirted security arrived and escorted the older man, wearing a t-shirt and hat out of the grounds.

Curious I approached the party of three to try to gain more information on what had just happened. I heard one security man say, “You’re done for the day.” It was the second to last match with Paes and Groth scheduled as the final match against Sitek and Koolhof.

The older man accused to causing the ruckus seemed weary and confused though he did not put up much of a verbal defense other than to say, “Can’t a guy root for his guy?” As they walked out to the exit area, not much was said and there was no resistance from the old, alleged heckler.

But it all was so very strange. I observed most of the match from a few sections away from where the accused was sitting and did not hear any kind of heckling whatsoever in the final fifteen minutes of the match or the second set or the first set. And I never saw Karlovic make any kind of issue with the chair umpire about an unruly fan. There was another guy sitting near me at the end of the second set who was backing Gojowczyk, saying things like “Bring it home Peter” when the German was one game away from victory at 45 in the second set. Or ‘Great serve Peter.”

But it was nothing to the extreme that could have irritated Karlovic. The most upset I saw Karlovic in the entire match was when he netted a backhand return on second serve break point late in the second set. Or the time the ballkid was slow to bring his towel after a missed volley – Karlovic furiously and disdainfully flicked his right hand and looked away as he saw the kid was busy bobbling balls in the corner and not at his service en route running with the towel so Ivo could give it a swipe across his face and hand.

Other than those hints of discontent, the match was played fairly and cleanly, so it was a surprise to see the post match controversy between Karlovic and the fan who, as I said, seemed old and well behaved and not capable of any nonsense.

So I am left to wonder. Is it possible that Karlovic could have possibly schemed this hoax in order to save face for the crushing loss? Karlovic has reached the finals of Newport three years in a row and he won the title last year. So for sure he had high expectations this year with a quarterfinal draw against a low-ranked German journeyman named Gojowczyk. But Karlovic has had problems with Gojo in the past, losing both of their previous duels on hard court.

Thursday’s loss was his third to Gojo.

It seems highly unlikely that a world class tennis legend like Ivo Karlovic would fabricate a heckling incident with a tennis fan over the age of 60 in Newport, Rhode Island, but stranger things have happened in tennis.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Duke; Actually I am not sure if Ivo went into the sparse crowd to take pictures, I only speculated that. He might have targeted this old man. It really was so strange and hard to believe. The old man looked like the least likeliest person to heckle anyone. I have been to Newport for ten years and never once saw any kind of bad manners or etiquette by any fan in a decade there. I think Ivo snapped after losing yet another third set tiebreaker at his favorite non major event. Remember two years ago Ivo lost ten third set breakers in a row and in the last one at the final tournament of the year Ivo destroyed his Head while walking off the court for his last match of the season. For some reason Ivo has a bad record in third set breaker and it has to be eating away at him.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Duke; No way Ivo will talk about this. Nor will any ATP official, if any even saw it. I should have followed the poor old guy outside the grounds and interviewed him. But it was a bit of a walk and I opted for dinner and to watch all of Paes and Groth. I think Ivo snapped. A lot of players have snapped. Mac wrecked a locker room. FGonzo wrecked all his Babolats and dumped all of his adidas gear into the trash can. We could go on and on and on. Players snap after bitter losses. Roddick almost beat the hell out of Djokovic after US Open loss.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

I highly doubt it. The old guy was old and he looked like a feeble harmless type. And incapable of behaving in a bad way. I was there. I heard nothing and Ivo did not make any issue of any fan behavior during the match. I think he lost his mind because of this loss. He's 2-3 now on the year in third set tiebreakers. And he's lost a lot of important breakers this year - the five setter to Bedene at Wimbledon, the two tiebreakers in first round to Zeballos at FO, two tiebreakers in the final to Muller in S-Hertogenbosch. It's been a frustrating year for Ivo and losing to a sub journeyman like Gojo could have been a breaking point. To pick on an old man fan is just ridiculous. Again, I saw or heard nothing at all during the match other than a "Bring it home Peter" by a different fan. That was the most extreme thing I heard the whole match.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Gojo can rip it. Rips returns and has a good serve. He ripped two good returns in the third set tiebreak that caused Ivo to net two volleys. Saw Gojo play on TV indoors a few years ago and he can hit the ball, possibly attended Rick Macci academy because he hits the ball harder.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

I would not say Ivo vs the fan is the highlight of Newport Duke. I would say the highlight of the week was probably Paes and Groth playing wonderful doubles or Fratangelo reaching his first ATP semifinal. Or my 90 minute hit with Callum Markowitz on Friday or my one hour battle with Ryan Balon on Weds

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Bryan, This did not look like a guy capable of doing anything bad to Ivo. Newport is a special nice place and there are not any idiots or drunken hecklers there. I've never seen any in ten years of attending the tourney. The old guy even said, "Can't a guy even root for his guy?" I wish I interviewed him.

 

[mrzz]

@Moxie , where are you?

Look, this is all conjectures. It is not an absurd conjecture, but still it is one. Karlovic got angry, complained about a fan, that´s the concrete fact. The rest are suppositions -- and on an internet blog, which (we all hope) is read by a good deal of people (and it is a good one, in fact) -- those suppositions sound like accusations. I could now just reply "did @scoop falsely accuse Dr. Ivo in his blog"?

I mean, for a poster that would be ok, but for someone producing (good) content, it does not sound right.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

mrzz; I know what you are saying and a reporter has to stay neutral but I was there and based on all the evidence I saw it looked like Ivo fabricated this incident. It's one of the strangest things I ever saw in tennis. Not one complaint during the match by Ivo. Not one sound of any heckling at all during the match. Then all the sudden moments after he exits the court he suddenly has a verbal altercation with an old man in his 60s? Not buying it and will stick with what I believe. I think Ivo was enraged by this loss and took it out on an innocent old man.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Catherine, 60 is the new 40 But this guy had an oldness about his demeanor tired and beleaguered. He mightve been 70 but I was being generous in the estimate

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Dan; Agassi said he lost to Chang to avoid playing/losing to Becker at US Open because he hated losing to Becker more than to Chang. Agassi actually said this in his book. Roddick lost his last match at US Open to Delpo and I would guess he lost that by semi subconscious tank because if he beat Delpo he would have had to play his hated rival Djokovic next. So these are just to example of players losing to a player they could tolerate losing to instead of a player they hated/hated to lose to. I heard nothing not even a whisper of anything remotely like a heckle directed at Ivo. You know the crowd in Newport is all class, no idiots, no goonballs. I saw this old guy and he was absolutely incapable of creating any kind of controversy or negativity. Just by appearance along I know that. And his reaction to being targeted and escorted out was of bewilderment. I am 98% sure Ivo fabricated this hoax as his excuse for losing, to save face with the other players. To distract from a very bad loss. The old smokescreen. Players know they have all the power and can manipulate this kind of drama.