Ernests Gulbis
 | |
| Country (sports) |  Latvia |
|---|---|
| Residence | Jūrmala, Latvia |
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) |
| Turned pro | 2004 |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Prize money | $1,968,017 |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 93-88 |
| Career titles | 1 |
| Highest ranking | No. 21 (February 7, 2011) |
| Current ranking | No. 21 (February 7, 2011) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | 2R (2009) |
| French Open | QF (2008) |
| Wimbledon | 2R (2008, 2009) |
| US Open | 4R (2007) |
| Other tournaments | |
| Olympic Games | 1R (2008) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 19-16 |
| Career titles | 2 |
| Highest ranking | No. 130 (November 23, 2009) |
| Current ranking | No. 400 (November 29, 2010) |
| Last updated on: January 17, 2011. | |
Ernests Gulbis (pronounced [ˈærnəsts ˈɡulbis], born August 30, 1988) is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schüttler, and in 2010 won his first ATP Tour singles title in the Delray Beach, defeating Ivo Karlović in the final. His career highlights also include a 4th round appearance at the 2007 US Open and a quarterfinal appearance at the 2008 French Open, as well as several other ATP World Tour semifinal appearances.
Gulbis' professional training in tennis began at the age of 12, when he was enrolled at the Niki Pilić Tennis Academy in Croatia. As of late 2009, Gulbis is coached by Hernán Gumy, after the retirement of Marat Safin. Gulbis was formerly coached by Karl Heinz Wetter and subsequently Nikola Pilić, the former professional Croatian tennis player and Croatian and German Davis Cup captain.[1]
Personal life
Gulbis comes from a very wealthy family. He first started playing tennis with his grandmother and considers basketball, football and hockey as his favorite sports. His father, Ainārs, is an investment businessman while his mother, Milēna, a theater actress. The second of five children, Gulbis has three sisters and two brothers, one of which is training in Florida to become a professional tennis player as well. Gulbis comes from a sporting family in general and his grandfather, Alvils Gulbis, was one of the starting five players on ASK Rīga, the Soviet Union basketball team that won the European Championships.[2] His other grandfather, Uldis Pūcītis, was a popular actor and film director.
Gulbis is known, both by his fellow tennis players as well as the media, as one of the funnier personalities on the tour. When Gulbis stunned world number 1 Roger Federer 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 at the 2010 Italian Open only after throwing away six previous match points, he told reporters after the match: "I shit my pants a little bit there...excuse my language", and has also bragged about his racquet-throwing "skills" in an on-court interview.[3] On a telecast during the 2010 Western and Southern Financial Group Masters from Cincinnati, broadcasters Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe, and Chris Fowler all compared Gulbis to former world number 1 Marat Safin, in terms of both playing style and attitude on and off court.
Gulbis speaks Latvian, Russian, English and a little German.[2]
Tennis career
The highlights of his career up to 2006 included reaching the final of the Oberstaufen Challenger in July 2006, where he lost to Michal Tabara, reaching the final of the Tampere Challenger, also in July 2006, where he lost to Florian Mayer, reaching the semi-finals of ATP St. Petersburg Open as a wildcard in October, where he lost to Mario Ančić and winning the Eckental Challenger in November, where he defeated Philipp Petzschner. In the 2008 US Open second round, Gulbis played a grueling 4 setter against Andy Roddick, yet lost. Later when interviewed, it was discovered that both he and his American opponent shared a birthday the moment the match rolled past midnight and into the early hours of the next day, August 30.
2007
Gulbis started his season as a qualifier in the Sydney Medibank International, losing in the first round to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.[4] He was subsequently defeated in the first qualifying round of the Australian Open.
Gulbis was relatively successful on the Challenger circuit in 2007. He reached the quarterfinals in Bergamo (l. to Fabrice Santoro) and the semifinals in Heilbronn (l. to Michaël Llodra). Gulbis won his second Challenger title by triumphing over the local favorite, Klavs Bogdanovics, at the Besançon Challenger in France, enabling him to break into the ATP Top 100 for the first time in his career. In his next tournament, the Sarajevo Challenger, Gulbis emerged victorious in both the singles and doubles events.
In the first week of October, he won the Mons Challenger in Belgium (d. Kristof Vliegen) as the top seed, breaking into the ATP Top 50 for the first time in his career and surpassing Juan Martín del Potro as the highest-ranked player born in 1988. This win also meant a fourth, consecutive title, which drew some attention to him by tennis pundits.
Grand Slam debut
Gulbis announced his arrival on the Grand Slam stage in the 2007 French Open by defeating the British veteran, Tim Henman in straight sets to advance to the second round. It was heralded by the British Davis Cup captain, John Lloyd, as "... a brilliant performance from Gulbis, that is just pure and utter talent."[5] Gulbis' run was halted in the second round by Spaniard Álbert Montañés, with a 1–6, 2–6, 6–1, 6–7(3) defeat, in a rain-interrupted match.
At Wimbledon, his second Grand Slam participation, Gulbis again was drawn to face Marcos Baghdatis in the first round. He succeeded in winning the first set off the tenth-seeded Cypriot before succumbing in four sets.[6] Gulbis debuted in Grand Slam doubles by teaming up with Ivan Ljubičić, with whom he had reached the semi-finals of the 2007 Ordina Open.
At the 2007 U.S. Open, Gulbis upset the No. 30 seed, Potito Starace, in the first round and the No. 8 seed, Tommy Robredo, in the third round, winning by a convincing score of 6–1, 6–3, 6–2. In that match, Gulbis broke Robredo six times and had 39 winners to Robredo's seven.[7] Gulbis' run was finally halted by former world Number 1, Carlos Moyà, to whom he lost in four sets.[8]
2008
At the first round of the 2008 Australian Open, Gulbis lost to Marat Safin 0–6, 4–6, 6–7. He reached the second round of the 2008 Pacific Life Open, where he lost a tight match to former Grand Slam finalist David Nalbandian with the score of 6–4, 4–6, 7–64. In the first round of the 2008 Miami Masters, he defeated Dominik Hrbatý, but in the second round met eventual champion Nikolay Davydenko. After winning the first set 6-3, he lost the following two sets in tiebreaks.
His biggest result up to that point occurred when he reached the quarterfinals of the 2008 French Open. Throughout the tournament he beat Simon Greul, seventh seed James Blake, Nicolás Lapentti and home-favourite Michaël Llodra.[9] In the quarterfinals he lost to third seed Novak Djokovic 5-7, 63-7, 5-7.
In his next tournament he reached the third round of the 2008 Queen's Club Championships, beating Kristof Vliegen and 12th seed Andreas Seppi. He lost to 6th seed Andy Murray 7-5, 1-6, 4-6.
In the first round at Wimbledon, Gulbis defeated fellow rising star John Isner, but lost in the 2nd round to the 2nd seed and eventual champion Rafael Nadal with a score line of 5-7, 6-2, 7-62, 6-3 in a rain-interrupted match. Other than Roger Federer, he was the only player to take a set off the eventual champion.
At the 2008 Cincinnati Masters, Gulbis defeated Jarkko Nieminen, Arnaud Clément, and James Blake but succumbed in the quarterfinal to #3 seed Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4.
At the US Open, Gulbis defeated Thomas Johansson in the first round before losing to Andy Roddick in the second, (3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 7-5). Coincidentally, it was his and Andy's birthday on the day they played.
2009
Gulbis began the year strongly by defeating former training partner Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Brisbane International tournament before falling in the second round to Paul-Henri Mathieu 3-6, 4-6. He lost in the second round of 2009 Australian Open to Igor Andreev in 5 sets after beating Albert Montañés in the first round in straight sets.
Gulbis was seeded 3rd heading into the 2009 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, but was defeated in the 1st round by former World No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis. It was the fourth time he was drawn to face Baghdatis in the first round of a tournament.
Gulbis had a poor clay court season compared to 2008, failing to go deep in any of the tournaments preceding the French Open. Gulbis also failed to defend his quarterfinal appearance at the French Open, causing his ranking to drop to 67th, the lowest it had been since the summer of 2007.
At the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Gulbis, unseeded, defeated Italian Riccardo Ghedin 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round before falling to third seeded Andy Murray of Great Britain 2-6, 5-7, 3-6.[10]
Gulbis played in the Indianapolis Tennis Championships in singles and doubles. He lost to Marc Gicquel of France in the first round. However, he entered in the doubles draw with Russian Dmitry Tursunov and won the Championship. They played number one seeded Ashley Fisher and Jordan Kerr of Australia and won 6-4, 3-6, [11-9] in the final.[11]
At the US Open, Gulbis was again drawn to play Andy Murray early in a grand slam, losing to the No. 2 seed 5-7, 3-6, 5-7 in the first round.
At the 2009 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, Gulbis advanced to the quarterfinals, upsetting 6th seed Radek Štěpánek in the first round as a qualifier, then defeating top 20 player Juan Mónaco in the second in straight sets. He lost to eventual champion and No. 2 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after taking the first set, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6.
The year saw a general decline in his ranking, with Gulbis failing to go deep in any of the grand slams, which was contrary to the expectations of many professionals and pundits.
2010
To begin the year, Gulbis claimed wins in the first two rounds of the Australian Open precursor tournament, the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, defeating 6th seeded Spaniard Albert Montañés 6-2, 7-5, and subsequently Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4, 7-5. Gulbis progressed on to the third round, where he was defeated in a tight match against world number 1 Roger Federer 2-6, 6-4, 4-6. At the 2010 Australian Open itself, Gulbis was ousted in the first round by 30th Seed Argentine Juan Mónaco in straight sets.
In February, Gulbis reached his second career semifinal at an ATP 500 event, the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, Tennessee. In the second round he defeated No. 3 seed Radek Štěpánek, facing two, consecutive Czech players as he ousted No. 5 seed Tomáš Berdych in the third round in a tight, three set match. He lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Sam Querrey.
At the end of February he then competed in the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, an outdoor hard court tournament, where he won his maiden ATP tour title. In the final, he faced 6'11" Croatian and No. 2 seed Ivo Karlović, winning convincingly with a score line of 6-2, 6-3. With this victory, his ranking rose back into the top 50.
Gulbis' next tournament was the 2010 BNP Paribas Open, an ATP 1000 Tier tournament. Gulbis defeated Swiss player Marco Chiudinelli in the first round, but succumbed to No. 5 seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. Davydenko later withdrew from the tournament due to a wrist injury exacerbated during the match. Ernests did not compete in the Sony Ericsson Open, instead returning to Europe to train for the Clay season.
At his first claycourt tournament of the season, the ATP 1000 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Gulbis again defeated Swiss Marco Chiudinelli in the first round, this time in straight sets, but lost to 13th seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round, also in straight sets. At his next tournament, the ATP 500 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, Ernests reached the quarterfinals, defeating Peter Luczak, Jérémy Chardy and Albert Ramos-Viñolas all in straight sets. He lost to in-form, eventual champion Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals 2-6, 6-7, who had also made the finals of the 2010 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters just a week prior. With this result, Gulbis' ranking rose back into the top 40, and also pushed his career win-loss record past 50% for the first time in his career, his year to date win-loss record at 15-7.
At his next tournament, the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Gulbis was drawn to face Marcos Baghdatis in the first round of a tournament for the fifth time in his career, although for the first time on clay. He defeated Baghdatis for the first time with a convincing scoreline of 6-2, 6-2, which set up a match with number 1 seed and World No. 1 Roger Federer. After losing the first set, Gulbis rallied to win the match 2-6, 6-1, 7-5, taking Federer on his seventh match point, which resulted in the biggest win in his career to date.[12] In the third round, he backed up his win over Federer, with a battling 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4) victory over Italian qualifier Filippo Volandri. In the next round, Gulbis defeated Feliciano López 7-6(6), 6-1 to reach his first semifinal of an ATP 1000 Tier tournament, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in a tight, three set match, hitting 50 winners and 59 errors throughout, with the scoreline 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, making Gulbis the first player to take a set off Nadal on clay this year. With his semifinal appearance, he assured himself a seeded position at the 2010 French Open.
At the 2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, Gulbis got off to a winning start against 2010 Estoril Open champion Albert Montañés 7-5, 6-1 in the first round. In the second round, he outplayed the 10th seed Mikhail Youzhny in two sets 7-6 (2), 6-4 and went on to beat Feliciano López 6-2, 7-6(0) for the second time this year. In the quarter-finals he faced World No.1 Roger Federer again, but lost 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Expectations were high for Gulbis as the former quarterfinalist came into the 2010 French Open seeded 23rd (ranked 27th) after having an incredible clay court season prior. However, Gulbis retired during the first round against the veteran Frenchman and World Number 38 Julien Benneteau, who he had defeated earlier in the year, while trailing heavily (4-6, 2-6, 0-1r), citing a hamstring injury. He then went to the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, where he reached the quarterfinals, and lost to Andy Murray. In his next tournament, the US Open, he lost to Jeremy Chardy in the first round in straight sets.
At the BNP Paribas Masters, Gulbis advanced to the third round losing to Andy Roddick 3-6, 6-7(8).
2011
To begin the year, Gulbis claimed wins in the first two rounds of the Australian Open precursor tournament, the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, defeating Victor Hanescu 6-3, 7-6 (6), and subsequently Croatian Antonio Veic 6-3, 6-1. Gulbis progressed on to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated in a tight match against world number 1 Rafael Nadal 7-6 (3), 6-3. Then, Gulbis went on to the Medibank International Sydney where he reached the semifinals before falling to Gilles Simon 7-6 (1), 6-0. At the Australian Open, Gulbis fell in the first round of a major for the fifth straight time, losing to Benjamin Becker 6-7(5), 2-6, 4-6.
Davis Cup
Gulbis played in three Davis Cup ties for Latvia in 2009, winning all seven of the rubbers in which he participated (4 singles; 3 doubles with Deniss Pavlovs).[13][14][15] His participation in the tie against Monaco in September helped Latvia to qualify for the Europe/Africa Zone Group I tier of Davis Cup for the first time in its history.[15]
Record against the top players
Gulbis win-loss record against players who were ranked World No. 10 or higher when the match was played is as follows:
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Playing style and Equipment
Gulbis primarily employs an offensive baseline playing style. Gulbis' most consistent shot is his forehand, which has been likened to that of American James Blake's for its rapid pace and relatively flat execution; his forehand is taken with a short swing and high levels of wrist action, causing the shot to be volatile and difficult to read. His running forehand typically has a slice action. Ernests has a double-handed backhand, which he takes very flat; he often prefers to go cross court with the backhand and up the line with the forehand, when feasible. Gulbis is likely best-known for his finesse shots, including the offensive topspin lob and drop shot, both of which he can strike from any position, including from deep in the court. Gulbis employs the drop shot consistently and often, sometimes to the point of derision. Gulbis plays an extremely aggressive, winner-driven game, which often leads to a high unforced error count, making his consistency an issue in tough matches, often causing him to be likened to Marat Safin. Despite playing a style more attuned to fast surfaces, his strong showing at the 2008 French Open and his win over Federer on clay are attributed to his powerful and flat strokes which can play through the surface.
As of January 2011, Gulbis uses a Wilson BLX racquet after switching from Head. His strings are Pacific Poly Force 17 strung at 62 lbs. Gulbis uses Tourna grip on a white Hydrocontrol grip. He is endorsed by adidas for his attire.
ATP World Tour
Singles (1–0)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score in the final |
| Winner | 1. | February 28, 2010 |  Delray Beach, United States
|
Hard |  Ivo Karlović
|
6–2, 6–3 |
Doubles (2–0)
| Outcome | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partnering | Opponents in the final | Score in the final |
| Winner | 1. | April 14, 2008 | Houston, United States
|
Clay |  Rainer Schüttler
|
 Pablo Cuevas Marcel Granollers
|
7–5, 7–6(3) |
| Winner | 2. | July 18, 2009 | Indianapolis, United States
|
Hard |  Dmitry Tursunov
|
 Ashley Fisher Jordan Kerr
|
6–4, 3–6, [11-9] |
Singles performance timeline
To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the French Open.
| Tournament | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | Career W-L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | |||||||||
| Australian Open | A | A | A | LQ | 1R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 1–4 |
| French Open | A | A | A | 2R | QF | 2R | 1R | 6–4 | |
| Wimbledon | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | 2R | A | 2–3 | |
| U.S. Open | A | A | LQ | 4R | 2R | 1R | 1R | 4–4 | |
| Grand Slam W-L | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–3 | 6–4 | 3–4 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 13–15 |
| Year-End Championship | |||||||||
| Tennis Masters Cup | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0–0 | |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 | |||||||||
| Indian Wells Masters | A | A | A | A | 2R | 2R | 2R | 3–3 | |
| Miami Masters | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | A | 1–2 | |
| Monte Carlo Masters | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | 2R | 1–2 | |
| Rome Masters | A | A | A | A | A | 2R | SF | 5–2 | |
| Madrid | A | A | A | A | 2R | 1R | QF | 4–3 | |
| Canada Masters | A | A | A | 1R | 1R | LQ | 2R | 1–3 | |
| Cincinnati Masters | A | A | A | A | QF | LQ | 3R | 5–2 | |
| Shanghai Masters | NMS | 1R | 1R | 0–2 | |||||
| Paris Masters | A | A | A | A | A | LQ | 3R | 2–1 | |
| Hamburg Masters | A | A | A | A | A | NM1 | 0–0 | ||
| Olympic Games | |||||||||
| Summer Olympics | A | Not Held | 1R | Not Held | 0–1 | ||||
| Career Statistics | |||||||||
| Tournaments Played | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 21 | 26 | 21 | 3 | 86 |
| Titles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Runner-ups | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Overall W-L | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-1 | 10-14 | 19-17 | 17-26 | 31-20 | 4-3 | 93-89 |
| Year End Ranking | 1349 | 418 | 141 | 61 | 53 | 90 | 24 | N/A | |
Challengers and futures titles (10)
Singles (7)
| Legend (Singles) |
| Challengers (4) |
| Futures (3) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | September 12, 2005 | Friedberg, Germany | Clay | Marcel Zimmermann
|
6–4, 6–0 |
| 2. | January 16, 2006 | Bergheim, Austria | Clay |  Jean-Claude Scherrer
|
7–6(2), 3–6, 6–4 |
| 3. | March 6, 2006 | Leuggern, Switzerland | Carpet | Tobias Klein
|
7–6(4), 6–4 |
| 4. | November 6, 2006 | Eckental, Germany | Carpet | Philipp Petzschner
|
6–3, 6–0 |
| 5. | February 19, 2007 | Besançon, France | Hard (i) |  Édouard Roger-Vasselin
|
6–4, 3–6, 6–4 |
| 6. | March 12, 2007 | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina | Hard (i) |  Jan Mertl
|
4–6, 6–4, 7–6(2) |
| 7. | October 7, 2007 | Mons, Belgium | Hard (i) |  Kristof Vliegen
|
7–5, 6–3 |
Doubles (3)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partnering | Opponents in the final | Score |
| 1. | July 10, 2006 | Oberstaufen, Germany | Clay | Mischa Zverev
|
 Teodor-Dacian Crăciun & Gabriel Moraru
|
6–1, 6–1 |
| 2. | October 30, 2006 | Aachen, Germany | Carpet | Mischa Zverev
|
 Tomasz Bednarek & Irakli Labadze
|
6–7(5), 6–4, [10–8] |
| 3. | March 12, 2007 | Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina | Hard (i) | Deniss Pavlovs
|
Jan Mertl & Lukáš Rosol
|
6–4, 6–3 |
Notes
- ^ 'Gulbis has weight on his shoulders' Ernests is now coached by Argentine coach Hernan Gumy, once mentor to former world number one Marat Safin
- ^ a b An Interview with Ernests Gulbis: Round 4 US Open 2007
- ^ [1]
- ^ 'Baghdatis conquers jet lag, rookie'
- ^ 'Gulbis vs Henman: as it happens...' from BBC Sports
- ^ 'No trouble or stubble for Baghdatis'
- ^ 'Gulbis gobbles up Robredo in 91 minutes'
- ^ US Open 2007 results
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7430053.stm Nadal and Djokovic into last eight (BBC - Accessed on June 3, 2008)
- ^ "Masterful Murray crushes Gulbis". BBC Sport. 2009-06-25. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
- ^ "Draws". Indianapolis Tennis Championships. 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
- ^ Mitchell, Kevin (2010-04-27). "Roger Federer dumped out of Rome Masters by wild card Ernests Gulbis". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2010-04-27.
- ^ Latvia vs Bulgaria - Davis Cup tie details
- ^ Latvia vs Finland - Davis Cup tie details
- ^ a b Latvia vs Monaco - Davis Cup tie details
External links
