Gulbis Ernest is a well-known Latvian tennis player, winner of the ATP tournaments in singles and doubles, as well as a semi-finalist of the 2014 French Open. Favorite coverage is hard, and the highest place in the ATP ranking is tenth.
early years
Gulbis Ernest was born and raised in a sports family. His grandfather and father played basketball, both sisters are professionally engaged in tennis, and the younger brother tries himself in golf.
Ernest first appeared on the court at the age of 5, and at the age of 16 he began to play in protest. In 2005, Ernest made his debut in the national team of Latvia during the qualifying matches within the Davis Cup and held the first bouts of the Asia-Pacific tour. By the end of the season, Gulbis managed to triumph in two challengers: in Eckenthal in singles and in doubles in Aachen.
Grand Slam Debut
The beginning of 2007 brought the Latvian two more victories in the Challengers in Besançon and Sarajevo, thanks to which the tennis player rose in the top 100 ATP rating. In 2008, Gulbis Ernest first appeared on the courts of the Australian Open, but was defeated in the very first match against Russian Marat Safin.
Gulbis was the real discovery of Roland Garros-2008. On the way to the quarter-finals, he beat one of the favorites of the tournament - American Blake, but two steps before the finals he lost to Serb Novak Djokovic. At the Wimbledon tournament of the same year, Ernest also confronted the main contender for the title, Rafael Nadal, to whom he lost in four sets. Taking part in the Olympic Games and the US Open, Ernest Gulbis finished the season at a record 53rd place for himself.
At the peak
The next few seasons, Gulbis was totally unlucky at the Grand Slam tournaments, where he could not win at least two matches in a row. At the same time, Ernest quite successfully performed in competitions of a lower rank and even defeated Croatian Ivo Karlovich in Delray Beach. In addition, the Latvian won several important victories over the representatives of the top 10 of the world ranking and at the end of 2010 he held 24th place highest for himself.
Ups and downs
Until 2014, Gulbis Ernest remained one of the tennis players who, according to sports experts, was “more feverish” than the rest. Tennis more than once played a cruel joke with it, either raising it in the rating or then “throwing” it out of the hundreds of the best. For four seasons, the Latvian won only two tournaments in St. Petersburg and Los Angeles, while at the same time continued a series of unsuccessful performances in the Grand Slam series.
The season of 2015 also presented the tennis player with several unpleasant surprises, however, local successes in the form of a victory at the APR tournament in Marseille and reaching the semi-finals of Roland Garros promptly raised Gulbis to the top ten of the world ranking. At the end of the season, Gulbis had two more ATP finals (in Moscow and Kuala Lumpur), but he still finished the year in the top 20, once again “failing” on the US Open chord courts.
