Ernests Gulbis: “If I Don’t Make Nothing Of This Year, Next Year, That’s It, My Career Is Over!” [Video]

Actually he won his first ATP title at Delray Beach; his second title was in LA.

March 1st, 2012 at 12:18 am

Gulbis was picked by most critics as a player with huge potential. But he has failed to live upto the promise so far. Something is lacking in his game. He needs to regroup, finetune, make little adjustments and also maintain a strict fitness regime.

March 1st, 2012 at 1:01 am

I watched him beat del potro & fish in LA. His serve looked unbelievably good. He was hitting his groundstrokes really well too but you could tell that he can be streaky.

March 1st, 2012 at 1:32 am

Sorry folks, but he sounds so imature for somebody who is 23 years old and professional. No wonder he didn’t achieve much ( almost nothing) so far and with this attitude will not achieve much. Talent is not enough, hard work mate and persistence. Obviously spoiled child who was looked after and had everything on a plate.
One more thing, he can never be Agassi, he picked completely wrong person to compare with, or as an example, Agassi is tennis legend, man that I admire for many reasons, not just tennis reasons. Man who went through thick and thin
and achieved something and didn’t give up. Just look at Agassi’s upbringing and Gulbis’s one ….two worlds.
Agassi, my dear Gulbis, won some GS before he was 30,
and what about you?

March 1st, 2012 at 5:20 am

@Wog boy

I don’t think he means that Agassi started to play when he was 30. I have problems to understand what he exactly said, the sound of the video is not good.

He wanted to point out that he is not going to play till he is 30 plus years old, like Agassi.

I don’t adore guys who are going to kill themselves for success. Some of the players will need body replacement before they are 35.

Tennis became a sport that is breaking the bodies of the players, it has become insane.

That his immune system became low, had to do with the stress he put on his body.

March 1st, 2012 at 5:55 am

Wog boy, everything you say is right. And yet. Takes all sorts. Do we really want everyone to be spending 25 hours a day in the gym and so on? Every now and then, a Gulbis, a Dolgopolov, springs a surprise. They’re not going to climb the heights. But, just occasionally, they’re going to cause one or two wobbles on the higher rungs…..

March 1st, 2012 at 6:08 am

Grendel, I am glad you are back.

Cheers, just raising a glass of plum brandy in this name.

Did I say it properly?

March 1st, 2012 at 6:32 am

Grendel,

I think Dolgopolov is a much better player than we give credit for. He is a player who is having too much variety in his game. But what lets him down time and again is his first serve. I think there is some problem in his service motion which should be corrected before it is too late. May be he can have discussions on this with his coach. My reading is that he hurries to serve before getting into motion.

March 1st, 2012 at 6:44 am

Michael – I think Dolgopolov is an incredible player, but whilst you are right about his first serve, he generally is too prone to error to disturb the big boys. Since he is so talented, I imagine the errors are a matter of poor judgement – he finds it hard to know when to rein in and play it cool.

March 1st, 2012 at 7:29 am

Michael: I heard an interview with Dolgopolov and he said “I don’t like taking advice and this is the way I play….” ending with a kind of shrug.
You change your game, you risk becoming a different player/person?

March 1st, 2012 at 7:48 am

Before I go I have to ask you,english speaking people, is “If I don’t make NOTHING” proper english, or ” If I don’t make ANYTHING”?
Just doesn’t sound right, does it?

March 1st, 2012 at 7:48 am

Wog boy- ’tis “anything.”

March 1st, 2012 at 7:50 am

Because it omes after “don’t” as in “I don’t know anything” but
“I know nothing”

March 1st, 2012 at 7:51 am

Darn it! “comes” not “omes” of course! Oh for an edit button!

March 1st, 2012 at 7:53 am

Wog boy – “if I don’t make nothing” is idiomatic, and somehow colourful – see Dickens – but you’ve got to come from a particular background for it not to sound false.

March 1st, 2012 at 7:54 am

now then margot, you protest too much. I didn’t actually notice your typo, and read you as saying “comes”. But now…Strange thing, how we automatically read what should be there, mentally supplying the missing word or letter if there is one missing, but without realising we’re doing it. Weird.

March 1st, 2012 at 7:56 am

Margot, Grendel thanks.

March 1st, 2012 at 8:33 am

He is right about one thing and that is when you want to achieve the top you muist be prepared to sacrifice all. And if he is not willing to do so then he wont become the next best thing in tennis.

Djokovic said it the best last year. We are playing for history. That is just what they do and they truly leave it all on the court. I hardly know of another sport where players are willing to sacrifice so much and yet become so close for people to see their true spirit.
If Gulbis doesnot understand this then he is obviously not made of the right material.

March 1st, 2012 at 1:09 pm

@xray&@Grendel

I can see where are you coming from but my understanding of word “professional” and “professionalizm” is exactly what Nadal, Federer, Murray, Djokovic are doing, otherwise it Is amateur or recreational sport. Is he trying to tell us that what Agassi did was wrong, or Connors or Federer who intends to play another 5-7 years. I mean you have to have some credibility to say something like that when you are 23 and didn’t achieve much in that sport. If that was said by Becker or Borg it would make sense( they retired early but with “few” GS titles) but not Gulbis. At the end of the they that is his life.

March 1st, 2012 at 7:06 pm

“They” should write ” day”

March 1st, 2012 at 7:28 pm

Psychic Predictions for 2012:

AO: Djokovic(duh)

FO: Nadal

Wimbledon: Murray

Olympics: Federer

USO: Djokovic

March 1st, 2012 at 8:20 pm

Margot,

If this is Dologopolov’s attitude that he is not liking taking advise, then he will remain at No.20 for ever.

March 1st, 2012 at 11:32 pm

Grendel,

The problem is Dologopolov having so much variety in his game, he doesn’t know how to use it judiciously. Sometimes he over cooks things and there ends the story. But I have not hit anybody hit shots as precisely as him. However, since the consistency quotient is completely absent in his game, he is vulnerable on every count.

March 1st, 2012 at 11:34 pm