French Open 2016 - Andy Murray vs Ivo Karlovic preview: Tall order for Murray with 'tricky' test against Croat

6 ft 11 Karlovic has hit more aces than any other player in the history of the sport

Andy Murray hits a return during his win over Mathias Bourgue (Getty)

It is just as well for Andy Murray that he is one of the best returners in the game. In the third round here at the French Open on Friday the Scot will face the man who has hit more aces than any other player in the history of the sport.

Ivo Karlovic, who beat Goran Ivanisevic’s all-time record of 10,237 aces last year, is not slowing down even at the age of 37, which makes him the oldest player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for 25 years. In his first two matches here Karlovic has hit 72 aces, 14 more than anyone else. That is quite an achievement given that clay is a greater challenge for the big servers than any other surface.

Murray, nevertheless, has won all six of his meetings with Karlovic, including two at Wimbledon. “The return has always been the best part of my game,” Murray said. “I always give myself chances to break serve when I play [John] Isner or Ivo. I've always found ways to give myself opportunities and find a way of holding my own serve.

“I'm also able to move them around a bit at the back of the court, use a bit of variety there that can throw them off a bit. A lot the matches have been very close, and they certainly haven't been easy matches for me. It's always tricky against Ivo.”

Ivo Karlovic serves up a winner (Getty)

Karlovic, who hit 41 aces in beating Australia’s Jordan Thompson in five sets over four and a half hours on Wednesday, has taken a set off Murray in four of their six meetings. “Andy is a great returner but I believe in my serve,” he said. “I’ve only lost my serve twice so far here so I’ll focus on that and try to take my chances when they come.”

While Murray’s five-set victory over Mathias Bourgue took an hour less than Karlovic’s second-round win, the Scot has used up more physical, mental and emotional energy than usual at this early stage of a Grand Slam tournament. His first-round victory over Radek Stepanek, which also went to five sets, was spread over two days because of bad weather and the Scot has also had to deal with huge media interest in his recent split with his coach, Amelie Mauresmo.

“Obviously if you're not hitting the ball as well as you would like, you try and spend a bit more time on the practice court but, for me, the most important thing now is to rest and recover,” Murray said as he looked ahead to his encounter with Karlovic. “This is why I travel with a physio, to help as much as he can in these situations. I’ll also try and get some good food in me, good fuel, and try and recover as best I can.”

However many sets they play, Murray is not expecting the match to be physically gruelling. “The average rally length will only be a few shots, maybe three, four shots max, so that's a positive,” he said.

“What’s hard for players is not necessarily the length of the match. It’s the physicality of the points that you play. You can spend five hours on the court, but if your muscles aren’t building up any lactic acid because you're playing two-shot rallies, then that's fine.

“When [Nicolas] Mahut and Isner played at Wimbledon, they played for however many hours it was, but they were playing two or three-shot rallies. Mentally it's tiring, but physically not so much. Normally against Ivo, the sets are very close. He plays a lot of tie-breaks because he's so tough to break, but the points are not physically demanding.”