Ernie Gulbis is 28 years old and ranked 169 in the world He has not won an ATP main draw match all year. Sources in Indian Wells said Gulbis was seen around the practice courts in the desert after he lost in qualies but he was not looking overly impressive with his serve and new shortened forehand looking mediocre. At Indian Wells Gulbis practiced with David Goffin and then was bumped off a P court by Vasek Pospisil. Gulbis is not ready to pack it in just yet though. He will play Sergey Stakhovsky in Key Biscayne qualies – a player he has already battled seven times in the ATP and most recently Gulbis beat Stakhovsky earlier this year in Rotterdam qualies. After beating Stak Gulbis then lost his second round qualies 76 in the third (12-10) to Evgeny Donskoy who of course then defeated Roger Federer in Dubai 76 in the third. So there is hope for Gulbis as the Donskoy loss shows he is not very far off top form. All Gulbis needs is the confidence that only can be gained by winning matches. Hopefully Gulbis can get back on track and score his sixth career win over Stakhovsky (against two losses) and regain form and confidence that has earned the Latvian six career ATP titles and over $6 million in prize money.
Gulbis nearly beat Donskoy this year
Jg · March 20, 2017 at 9:23 am
Scoop or Dan if you are watching qualies in Miami, would be interesting to see how Gulbis’ new strokes are holding up, he has a first class backhand and serve so you would think he should get by qualifying ( shouldn’t lose too many service games). Also I see kudla is playing Escobedo, must be a tremendous amount of pressure on Kudla to win a match like this.
Scoop Malinowski · March 20, 2017 at 10:04 am
jg; I will be down on Tuesday and hopefully will get to see the key quali clashes – I saw video of Gulbis and his new stroke looks good – another interesting qualies battle is C Harrison vs P Polansky – Saw those two training together in Bradenton in early Dec now they have to play with high stakes on the line –
Hartt · March 20, 2017 at 4:39 pm
Gulbis is now out of the qualies. He was bageled by Stakhovsky in the third set.
Scoop Malinowski · March 20, 2017 at 4:49 pm
Tough tough loss for Gulbis as he had a 5-2 record vs Stakhovsky – with his ranking at 169 he will have to go to Challengers – This could be the end of Gulbis –
Bryan · March 20, 2017 at 6:01 pm
The freefall of Gulbis is a damn shame. He’s one of my favorite players and his rise was exciting and fun for the game. Last year the excuse was injury. Now I don’t think that’s going to fly. He’ll have to join the Jerzy circuit at Challengers and work his way back.
scoopmalinowski · March 20, 2017 at 9:30 pm
I didnt fully buy the injury excuses either Bryan. Seemed more like lost confidence.
Dan Markowitz · March 21, 2017 at 8:06 pm
A bagel in the third set. I wonder if Ernie is really giving his all. I wonder if he has a coach who is at his matches?
Scoop Malinowski · March 21, 2017 at 10:38 pm
Dan; Gulbis confidence is shattered – starving for wins any kind of wins – has to go to Challengers and Futures –
Dan Markowitz · March 22, 2017 at 5:29 am
This is one of the biggest free falls in the history of the game. How many years ago was it when Ernie made the semis at the French? Three? I think the effort is there. Yes, his confidence must be shot. He’s only 28 I think, he should have something left in the tank.