Ernests Gulbis

Titles Won: 

Ernests Gulbis is a professional male tennis player from Latvia. He began playing tennis at the age of five when his grandmother took him to a tennis court. His favourite surface is hard courts and considers his serve and backhand to be his best shots. Gulbis is one of five children and comes from a very wealthy family, his father Ainārs, is an investment businessman. He used to work with former ATP professional Niki Pilic and trained at his academy in Munich from the ages of 12-18. In 2005, Gulbismade his Davis Cup debut in a second round tie against Slovenia, losing to Grega Zemlja in four sets. In August, he went on to reach back-to-back Futures semi-finals in Latvia and Lithuania. He won his first Futures title in September at Friedberg in Germany, defeating Marcel Zimmermann in the final 6-4, 6-0. In 2006, his ranking improved over 300 positions in a season, highlighted by reaching his first ATP semi-final. He started the season by winning his second Futures event at Salzburg, defeating Switzerland's Jean-Claude Scherrer in the final 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4. He won his second Futures event of the season in March at Leuggern in Switzerland, defeating Tobias Klein in straight sets. Gulbis reached his first Challenger final in July on the clay courts of Oberstaufen in Germany, losing to Czech Michal Tabara in straight sets. He made his ATP debut in St. Petersburg and reached the semi-final, losing to Croatia's Mario Ancic. In November he won his first Challenger title at Eckental, defeating local favourite Philipp Petzchner in straight sets.

In 2007, the Latvian finished inside the Top 70 for the first time in his career with consistent ATP level and Challenger results. He won 10 matches in ATP play and posted a 23-4 record in Challenger play, winning three titles. In February he won his first Challenger title of the year at Besancon in France, defeating Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the final. In his next tournament he won the Sarajevo Challenger event, beating Jan Mertl in the final. At Roland Garros in May, Gulbis defeated Tim Henman in the first round in straight sets but lost in the second round to Spain's Albert Montanes. At Wimbledon, Gulbis was drawn against Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis and made an early first round exit. At the US Open, Gulbis reached the fourth round and knocked out world number 8 Tommy Robredo in the third round before falling to Carlos Moya in four sets. In the remainder of the season he won his third Challenger event at Mons in Belgium (d. Vliegen) and advanced to the quarter final of the ATP event at St. Petersburg (l. Cilic). In 2008, the young Latvian made his tennis breakthrough to end the year ranked 53. His season highlights include reaching his first Grand Slam quarter final and winning a personal-best 24 matches. He started the season by making an early first round exit at the Australian Open, losing to Russia's Marat Safin in straight sets. In March, Gulbis reached the quarter final in Las Vegas, losing to American Robby Ginepri in straight sets. At Roland Garros, Gulbis reached his first Grand Slam quarter final. In the second round he defeated world number 8 James Blake but fell to Novak Djokovic. At Wimbledon he was drawn against eventual winner and world number two Rafa Nadal, losing in four sets. He bounced back and in July reached his first Masters Series quarter final at Cincinnati, defeating James Blake but falling to Novak Djokovic.