Gulbis wins Del Ray Beach and does his best stand up comedy work

Ernst Gulbis, is the world ready for you? He has jumped 100 points in the rankings since October and now is again threatening the top 50. He has staked his claim to Delray beach having now become a two time champion there. Only Nadal's 7 RG titles and FEd's 7 wimby's can compare to Gulbis' domination of Delray Beach. And after he won Delray beach he was absolutely hilarious in the interview. 2 of his 3 career titles have come at this tournament, at one point he stated he loved the tournament, "because this is the only one I can win". Next after collecting 75,000k winner's check he jokingly demanded the red 911 turbo they had at courtside for a promotion (about 100k). He told the interviewer after he asked about how Gulbis fought back from being behind this week, "don't you have any new questions, you need to change things up". But in all seriousness I have always liked Gulbis' game and his personality. And the kid did win 8 matches when you include qualification to win the title, no easy feat on tour. He claimed big wins against Querrey and Haas. As well as the march up the rankings. Gulbis has been working harder as his results indicate and while I don't hold out hope for him at IW following his 8 match war of attrition in Delray, he has a lot to work with and has been working much harder if we are to believe what the commentators were telling us this week. He is still just 23 or 24 years old and as we have been seeing in tennis your best tennis nowadays seems to be from 25-28, so while no spring chicken one could still claim that Gulbis is pre-prime, if he ever has such a thing. Interestingly Bennetau has never won an ATP tournament for years of credible play as a top pro. Gulbis has messed around his whole career and has won 3 tournaments, I think this speaks to that innate athletic ability he has. His forehand is big but is very jerky, the backhand is pure class and the serve and movement around the court are there as well.

Come on Gulbo, do it for the under appreciated lazy rich kids of the world.

He has clearly finally matured and it will be a big surprise now to me if he doesn't win Wimbledon or the US Open this year.

Good article btw Socal, I like Gulbis too, funny guy.

Yeah, Amrit you had to see the interview and trophy celebration, like 100 people stuck around to watch it but the people who did got a one man Gulbis show that was pretty freaking hilarious. The guy was almost giddy though for awhile I thought he might be high or something, not on PEDs he was so damn giggly you would think he just sparked a joint or something.

Henman Bill, the tennis world is quaking in their boots at the emergence of the Gulbis era, first Delray Beach then the entire tennis world.

http://tennis.si.com/2013/02/28/ernests-gulbis-quotes/


Ernests Gulbis is funnier than crap, you got to read this article. I think he is now I think he is my second favorite player. The part about getting arrested in sweden and asking them for his one phone call because he watched a lot of American movies, and then being told by the swedish cops that the one phone call rule does not apply in sweden. Or that Vodka makes you black out or that American beer tastes like urine. Or why he likes Rotterdam tourney "because marijuana is legal".

I watched the tournament and he was a bit like Ferrer in dismantling all underdogs, can he do it on big stage atleast a couple of matches like that? i doubt it, but yes he is still the best of youngsters on the tour eventhough he is 25/26.

I think Ernie is 24, read the interview on SI invisible it is pretty funny, an absolute train wreck. Ernie is never going to be president of latvia.

Always been a fan of gulbis and as feds starts to tail out more, the more i will support the "fighter pilot" gulbis!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSmYYuZewro

His forehand looks weird now, anyone seen?

Yeah Luvsports i mentioned it looks jerky not a smooth motion at all and I don't remember that hitch being so pronouced a couple of years ago, and I don't think he is hitting it any better now. He needs to rework it in my mind, he takes a lot of time with the swing and the two hand take back looks very strange.

Probably not surprising if he hasn´t kicked the habit

http://tennis.si.com/2013/02/13/ernests-gulbis-rotterdam-marijuana/?sct=obnetwork

Yeah he's remodelled his FH completely...seems to be working as he's climbing the rankings again. Think he's moved over to the wiper-shield motion.

He's the new Vytautas (Vitus) Gerulaitis party boy of the 2010's... (he was Lithuanian...)

socal1976 wrote:I think Ernie is 24, read the interview on SI invisible it is pretty funny, an absolute train wreck. Ernie is never going to be president of latvia.

Thx for the share Socal, it was fun.

lydian wrote:Yeah he's remodelled his FH completely...seems to be working as he's climbing the rankings again. Think he's moved over to the wiper-shield motion.

He's the new Vytautas (Vitus) Gerulaitis party boy of the 2010's... (he was Lithuanian...)

I love the part where he gets arrested in sweden for soliciting and he says basically I met this girl and went back to the room with her, I didn't ask her what her job was if "she was a hairdresser or something". Then he said that he spent the night in jail and asked the Swedes for his one phone call because he watched a lot of American movies and they told me we don't have that rule here.

His forehand by the way looks much worse than what it was, it is weird it is like a two step swing as opposed to one clean motion. He has this awkward take back and then stops and then hits the ball. Plus he is super western on the grip as well. It looks strange to me, I think the old forehand was better.

this may be wrong but it reminds me a bit of soderlings fh with the long outstretched arm.

It is weird and has a hitch in it, it isn't one flowing motion like fed's forehand or Djoko's motion. It is almost like a two step motion. He first splits the hands apart, stops, and then swings through the ball. I don't like it, and to me it doesn't look as good as it used to be. He still blasts some winners with it but it looks strange and gives up a lot of errors.

He really can wallop the ball though, he was outhitting berdych when they played in marseille.

No question Luvsports, he has always had easy power, but it doesn't look like the same forehand and clearly that is his weaker side. I don't know if this new motion is something he is trying to do, because if it is I don't get what the advantage is. It will give him big problems on faster surfaces like grass and indoors and I can't help but feeling it will break down under pressure.

It is an odd looking shot, but if he keeps on playing as he is with it, i don't really care!

I wanna see Gulbis just once go on court with a butler, like the billionaire heir he is.

And if he hadn´t been he might have achieved a lot more in tennis than he has ... spoilt little rich boy