By Scoop Malinowski
Ernests Gulbis recently lost to a player ranked 529 in the world. That’s right, the former Roland Garros semifinalist in 2014 lost in three sets 46 36 16 to Benjamin Hassan at the Koblenz Challenger in January.
But if you thought the Latvian veteran might be finished at the ATP level, you are wrong. The 29-year-old Gulbis, now ranked 199 in singles, has qualified for the Sofia main draw by beating Lorenzo Sonego 76 67 76 and Florian Mayer 64 61 in qualifying.
Gulbis, who has won six career ATP singles titles and has recorded a 226-211 career won-loss record on the ATP Tour, will meet Viktor Troicki in the Sofia first round. Gulbis defeated Troicki 61 61 in their lone meeting in 2013 at Rome Masters.
If Gulbis can defeat Troicki, he will play the winner of Denis Istomin vs 17-year-old Bulgarian junior wildcard Adrian Andreev, who recently lost to Sebastian Korda in the Australian Open junior boys 62 61.
So the stars are possibly aligning to see Gulbis mount an ATP comeback. But given his unpredictable natures, one can never be sure of anything with Gulbis, whose bio page has been deleted from the ATP Tour media guide for the last two years.
adidas · Ernests Gulbis · Gulbis
Nadal goat2 · February 6, 2018 at 11:57 am
Well maybe Gulbis beat Federer at FO but has not did anything since then
jg · February 6, 2018 at 7:55 pm
Watching Gulbis now, since when did Troicki switch to Yonex? Scoop right, Yonex is taking over. Gulbis looks out of sorts.
jg · February 6, 2018 at 8:02 pm
But Gulbis looks like he’s getting it together in 2nd set, he does have a first class serve and backhand. I didn’t realize ( if I heard correctly) Gulbis won DelRay twice, they should give him a wild card.
q10 · February 8, 2018 at 2:03 am
rank 199 seems respectable. I wonder if he has many points to defend this year (FO??)
Scoop Malinowski · February 8, 2018 at 8:28 am
Scoop Malinowski writes:
q10, Gulbis beat Delpo at Wimbledon last year 1R if I remember correctly. But other than that he didn't do anything on the ATP tour level. So he should build up his ranking point base this year – if he can get into enough main draws through qualis because he won't get any wildcards. Or he will be very lucky to get any.
Nadal goat2 · February 8, 2018 at 9:13 am
Gulbis is not really a good player he losses to many matches that he should win
Scoop Malinowski · February 8, 2018 at 10:09 am
Scoop Malinowski writes:
Semi finals at a major. Wins over Federer and other top players. Six ATP singles titles. Top ten ranking…Gulbis is a great player and he's had an excellent career. Judge him at his best not his worst, as Norman Mailer once said.
Nadal goat2 · February 8, 2018 at 10:54 am
No he's had a really bad career one semi at a major that a joke:lulz2: plus to be a great player you have to win at least 3 slams not 0. Gulbis is Average player at best Andy Murray is that a call great.
Scoop Malinowski · February 8, 2018 at 11:15 am
Scoop Malinowski writes:
Nadalgoat2, I disagree. For Gulbis to achieve what he has in this era is very good. In comparison to the other greats and major champs of this era, yes Gulbis does not match up. But still he has had a very good even great career and he should be very proud. Like Bernard Tomic said, "a lot of great players do not win majors."
Nadal goat2 · February 8, 2018 at 11:39 am
Well are just going have to agree to disagree but yes you are right not all great players win Majors. gulbis at he's best is a good player career OK? I think you have to win a slam to be a great player but for other people SF FO Top 10 is good enough. Anyway the stats say he's had a good career and been a really good player.