Ernests Gulbis’ time between making the semi-finals in Paris last year and now has been – in typical Gulbis fashion – a crazy ride.
The Latvian, who shocked Roger Federer in the French Open last eight in 2014 to post his best grand slam result to date and enter the world’s top-10, has won a mere 12 matches since then. That’s 12 matches in 23 events.
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The 26-year-old kicked off 2015 with five consecutive losses and is currently 3-12 this season.
He had a brief split – one month to be exact – from his coach Gunther Bresnik earlier this year – and at one point appeared to have teamed up with ex-world No4 Thomas Enqvist.
But Gulbis explains how his partnership with the Swede was only temporary and he realised he needed to get back to Bresnik, a coach he shares with Austrian world No31 Dominic Thiem.
“Actually the last couple matches on clay it’s been getting better and better. I had some close losses against David Goffin, Jiri Vesely in Rome and Madrid. I played decent. I lost to Goffin 7-5 in the third, and next week he played quarter-finals. So seems like I’ve been losing a lot of matches, but I lost to decent people.
“I met Enqvist in Marseilles for five minutes, and I was already in a mood that I might try something different. Then I just asked him to help me out the week before Monte Carlo and the weeks of Monte Carlo, and Barcelona. But it was never a commitment that now we’re going to keep on working,” explained Gulbis, who faces Nicolas Mahut in the second round on Wednesday.
“I was always a player who needed somebody who is incredibly strong in the technical part of the game. I don’t need to think about tactics, about all this stuff. I just walk on court and perform.
“But I need to get my base done, and this is unfortunately the thing what I’ve been missing this year.
“The off-season practice was a little bit screwed up because of shoulder problems, and because of that, everything just collapsed. Now it’s been a good three weeks of practice (with Bresnik).”
Under normal circumstances, Gulbis would be feeling pressure having to defend semi-final points in Paris. But considering the disastrous year he’s having, he says he’s happy just getting the first win under his belt.
“I think the less thoughts you put into it, the better,” Gulbis said referring to his losing streak earlier this year. “Over analysing it’s not good. My happiness really comes from success. I haven’t had success for a while. So my happiness level is not very high. And I didn’t have a lot of things outside the court which could give me happiness. I don’t want to use any words like depression. But I wish my level of happiness was higher.”
