He was born in a millionaire family, it was Top 10 in the world, he beat Federer in Roland Garros and irritated Nadal

Ernest Gulbis nació en 1988, en Letonia. She is the grandson of the legend of the Basketball Alvils Gulbis -it was Tricampeón of Europe with Ask Riga r son of the businessman Ainars, who kneaded a fortune with the fall of the Soviet Union between the late 80s and the beginning of the 90s. He formed at the Nikola Pilic Academy, the same in which Novak Djokovic did.

Training with djokovic and start in the circuit

At 12 years old he left for Germany to train at the Nikola Pilic Academy and there he was for six years. In fact, he was a companion of Novak Djokovic, who has a year longer than him. Gulbis stood out and almost had no training in Juniors, since he chose to start competing in ITF contests and make his way to get to ATP. While part of his formation went to Nole’s par, when he had already established himself in the circuit he said of the Serbian: “When he began to win titles his eyes changed.”

In his beginnings he left a statement that brought quite controversial: “Luckily for me, money is not a problem. I don’t play for money or fame. That does not motivate me. My motivation is wanting to be number 1. Prove that I can be better than others”. It should be noted that there was always a particular look at Ernests Gulbis in the circuit, he was not a player particularly loved by his teammates. He even had problems with Nadal and Djokovic.

Weak head

Argentine Hernán Gumy was his coach in the beginning and at the time said: “Ernests is like Safin. If he has the day, he is able to win anyone. But if he is not motivated, he will not put one inside.” It should be noted that Gumy was also a marath coach Safin, logically before working with Gulbis.

The day he irritated Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal and Ernests Gulbis are from the same litter. The Spanish is category 86, while Latvian 88. For this reason, the faces were seen repeatedly: there were 7 in total and in all the one born in Mallorca was imposed. Now, there were good battles between them, probably the most prominent was that of the semifinals of the 1000 Rome Masters in which Rafa won by 1/6, 7/5 and 6/4. The striking of that day was the statement left by Nadal after the meeting: “If because we are better, we understand the hit as much as you can to the ball, regardless of whether it goes inside or outside, then, he has been better than me.”

Triumphs against Roger Federer

Throughout their trajectories, Roger Federer and Ernests Gulbis faced five opportunities and on all surfaces. The history was 3 to 2 for his majesty, but Gulbis can afford to say that he defeated Roger five sets in the round of 16 of Roland Garros 2014with an imposing result: 6/7, 7/6, 6/2, 4/6 and 6/3. The other victory of the Latvian was in Masters 1000 of Rome of 2010 in three sets.

Tennis roof and start of the end

Undoubtedly, the best years of Ernests Gulbis in the circuit were between 2010 and 2014. In fact, in that 2014 he won his last titles at ATP level, he was also a semifinalist of Roland Garros in what was his best participation in a Grand Slam. On the other hand, in terms of the ranking of the ATP, it became number 10 in the world, just after its great performance in the French capital.

Then his career suffered a considerable level decline, he had some injuries that prevented him from doing his bestalthough in 2018 he returned to an ATP final, it was in Stockholm and lost it for 6/4 and 6/4 against Stefanos Tsitsipas. The official closure of his career was in 2024, although he had not appeared in the first planes for a long time.

Gulbis’s titles

During his years as a professional, Ernests Gulbis was one more player of great games than of tournaments itself. He had talent, but he couldn’t capture him in a whole week, at least in the big competitions. While he was a semifinalist of Roland Garros and that is not for anyone, he never even played a Grand Slam final, nor of 1000 Masters and neither of an ATP 500. In total he obtained six titles and all of them were ATP 250the first in 2010 in Delray Beach against Ivo Karlovic and the last in 2014 in Nice against Federico Delbonis.