Roger Federer says he is looking forward to the "challenge" Ivo Karlovic's big serve will provide on Wednesday.
Title favourite up for the challenge of facing big-serving Karlovic
Roger Federer has vowed not to underestimate the threat of Ivo Karlovic and says he is looking forward to the "challenge" his big serve will provide.
The five-time champion will meet Wimbledon's ace king in the quarter-finals at the All England Club on Wednesday.
The 6ft 10in Karlovic has blasted down 137 aces in four matches so far and has yet to lose his serve at the tournament.
In his last three matches his opponents have not even forced a break point, but Karlovic has often found Federer too good for him in the past, the Swiss having won eight of their nine meetings.
"I like those sort of challenges," said the second seed and title favourite. "It's maybe not the most fun match to go through but I like to beat this guy because he makes it hard on us to beat him.
"He's become an excellent player. Not only just his serve, he's got to have something more otherwise he wouldn't be ranked where he is (36) and he wouldn't be beating all those good players. He's not to be underestimated."
Karlovic, meanwhile, has the utmost respect for his opponent.
"The reason why he was number one and also why he's maybe the best player ever is because in the tight situations he can play his best tennis," said the 22nd seed.
Repeat
Federer and Karlovic will be first on Centre Court at 1300 BST on Wednesday.
Opening proceedings on Court One will be fourth seed Novak Djokovic and Tommy Haas in what will be a repeat of the recent Halle final, won by Haas.
The German said: "In Halle everything just kind of came together really well.
"I obviously took that high with me here.
"Every match I've been trying to keep doing the things that have been working for me."
The second match on Court One will see two-time runner-up Andy Roddick face the 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt.
Roddick is expecting a battle.
"It's a fight, everything is a fight. Lleyton's not going to give you anything," he said.
"A lot of guys you can get on top of, you can get on top of their game, you can
look for holes in it. Lleyton doesn't really have a lot of holes."
