Four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt has suffered a deflating first-round loss at Queen’s to his Croatian nemesis Ivo Karlovic.
Nine years after spectacularly ending Hewitt’s Wimbledon title defence in the opening round at the All England Club, Karlovic returned to London to haunt the Australian once more with a 6-3 6-2 hammering.
The 208cm giant thundered down 22 aces in just nine service games to leave Hewitt shellshocked and desperately lacking match practise less than a fortnight out from the start of the grasscourt grand slam event.
The match was all over in 63 minutes, with Karlovic breaking Hewitt three times and conceding a meagre seven points on serve.
Hewitt also crashed out in the first round of the French Open in his comeback from four months out recovering from career-saving toe surgery.
Tuesday’s heavy defeat came just a couple of hours after the All England Club awarded Hewitt a Wimbledon wildcard on the 10th anniversary of the 31-year-old’s greatest triumph in tennis.
Hewitt famously claimed Karlovic was “serving out of a tree” when the Croatian became the first man in history to eliminate the Wimbledon champion in the opening round.
It was the same old story nine years on as Karlovic struck four successive aces in his very first service game.
Aided by two Hewitt double-faults, Karlovic broke Hewitt for 3-1 and that was effectively first set over.
The second set was all a blur for Hewitt as the man mountain continued his serving onslaught and broke twice more to complete the demolition in barely an hour.
Hewitt this week dropped out of the world’s top 200 for the first time in his distinguished career, but the All England Club came to the party and presented the former No.1 with one of seven men’s Wimbledon wildcards.
Hewitt and Chris Guccione also received wildcards into the men’s doubles, while Australia’s reigning junior Wimbledon junior champions Luke Saville and Ashleigh Barty were awarded wildcards into the men’s and women’s qualifying draws.
While Hewitt is out, fellow Australian Matthew Ebden enjoyed a 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 first-round Queen’s win over German Matthias Bachinger.