154 Facts About Ernests Gulbis

Ernests Gulbis is a Latvian professional tennis player.

In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the US Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schuttler, and in 2010, he won his first ATP Tour singles title in the Delray Beach, defeating Ivo Karlovic in the final.

Ernests Gulbis had previously reached the quarterfinals of the 2008 French Open.

Ernests Gulbis's father Ainars is an investment businessman, and his mother Milena Gulbe-Kavace is a theater actress.

Ernests Gulbis's maternal grandfather Uldis Pucitis was a popular actor and film director.

The second of five children, Ernests Gulbis has three sisters and one brother.

Ernests Gulbis's younger half-sister Laura Gulbe is a tennis player.

Ernests Gulbis comes from a sporting family in general, and his paternal grandfather, Alvils Ernests Gulbis, was one of the starting five players on ASK Riga, the Soviet Union basketball team that won the European Championships.

Ernests Gulbis married Tamara Kopaleyshvili in November 2017, and they are raising a child in Riga, Latvia.

In 2009, Ernests Gulbis was arrested in Sweden for soliciting prostitutes.

The next year, at the French Open, when Ernests Gulbis was asked if he would encourage his sisters to pursue professional tennis, he said he believed that women should "focus on family and kids".

Ernests Gulbis began playing tennis at the age of 5 with his grandmother.

Ernests Gulbis refused to play much junior tennis as he only played in three tournaments winning one in May 2004.

Ernests Gulbis mainly played in men's ITF futures events to start his career and officially turned pro in June 2004 at the age of 15.

Ernests Gulbis' first event at any level was a challenger tournament in Germany in June 2004 after receiving a wildcard into the main draw.

Ernests Gulbis lost in the first round to Teymuraz Gabashvili in straight sets.

In July 2006, Ernests Gulbis made his first challenger final where he lost to Michal Tabara in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis received direct entry into the 2006 US Open Qualifying, his first Grand Slam qualifying draw.

Ernests Gulbis made his ATP debut at the 2006 St Petersburg Open after receiving a wildcard into the main draw.

Ernests Gulbis ended 2006 with his first challenger title without losing a set defeating Philipp Petzschner in the final.

Ernests Gulbis won two doubles challenger titles within the year both partnering Mischa Zverev and another doubles final partnering compatriot Deniss Pavlovs Ernests Gulbis ended the year with a year-end ranking of 141.

Ernests Gulbis started his season as a qualifier in the Sydney Medibank International, losing in the first round to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.

Ernests Gulbis was defeated in the first qualifying round of the Australian Open.

Ernests Gulbis was relatively successful on the Challenger circuit in 2007.

Ernests Gulbis won his second Challenger title by triumphing over the local favorite, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, at the Besancon Challenger in France, enabling him to break into the ATP Top 100 for the first time in his career.

Ernests Gulbis announced his arrival on the Grand Slam stage in the 2007 French Open by defeating the British veteran, Tim Henman in straight sets to advance to the second round.

At Wimbledon, his second Grand Slam participation, Ernests Gulbis again was drawn to face Marcos Baghdatis in the first round.

Ernests Gulbis won the first set before succumbing in four sets.

Ernests Gulbis debuted in Grand Slam doubles by teaming up with Ivan Ljubicic, with whom he had reached the semifinals of the 2007 Ordina Open.

In that match, Ernests Gulbis broke Robredo six times and had 39 winners to Robredo's seven.

Ernests Gulbis' run was finally halted by former World No 1, Carlos Moya, to whom he lost in four sets.

Ernests Gulbis reached the second round of the 2008 Pacific Life Open, where he lost a tight match to former Grand Slam finalist David Nalbandian in a final set tiebreak.

At the 2008 Cincinnati Masters, Ernests Gulbis defeated Jarkko Nieminen, Arnaud Clement, and James Blake, but succumbed in the quarterfinals to third seed Novak Djokovic.

At the US Open, Ernests Gulbis defeated Thomas Johansson in the first round, before losing to Andy Roddick in the second, again after winning the first set.

Ernests Gulbis began the year strongly by defeating world No 3 Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the first round of the Brisbane International before falling in the second round to Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Ernests Gulbis lost in the second round of the 2009 Australian Open to Igor Andreev in five sets, after beating Albert Montanes in the first round in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis was seeded third heading into the 2009 Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, but was defeated in the first round by former World No 8 Marcos Baghdatis.

Ernests Gulbis had a poor clay-court season compared to 2008, failing to go deep in any of the tournaments preceding the French Open.

Ernests Gulbis failed to defend his quarterfinal appearance at the French Open, causing his ranking to drop to World No 67, the lowest it had been since the summer of 2007.

At the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Ernests Gulbis, unseeded, defeated Italian Riccardo Ghedin in the first round, before falling to third seeded Andy Murray.

Ernests Gulbis played in the Indianapolis Tennis Championships in singles and doubles.

Ernests Gulbis lost to Marc Gicquel of France in the first round.

At the US Open, Ernests Gulbis was again drawn to play Andy Murray early in a Grand Slam, losing to the No 2 seed in the first round.

Ernests Gulbis lost to eventual champion and second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after taking the first set.

The year saw a general decline in his ranking, with Ernests Gulbis failing to go deep in any of the Grand Slams.

Ernests Gulbis progressed to the third round, where he was defeated in a tight three set match against World No 1 Roger Federer.

At the 2010 Australian Open itself, Ernests Gulbis was ousted in the first round by 30th seed Argentine Juan Monaco in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Sam Querrey.

Ernests Gulbis defeated Swiss player Marco Chiudinelli in the first round, but succumbed to fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko in the second round.

Ernests Gulbis did not compete in the Sony Ericsson Open, instead returning to Europe to train for the clay season.

At his first clay-court tournament of the season, the ATP 1000 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Ernests Gulbis again defeated Swiss Marco Chiudinelli in the first round, this time in straight sets, but lost to 13th seed Stan Wawrinka in the second round, in straight sets.

At his next tournament, the ATP 500 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, Ernests Gulbis reached the quarterfinals, defeating Peter Luczak, Jeremy Chardy, and Albert Ramos-Vinolas, all in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis lost to in-form, eventual champion Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals.

At his next tournament, the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Ernests Gulbis was drawn to face Marcos Baghdatis in the first round of a tournament for the fifth time in his career, although for the first time on clay.

Ernests Gulbis defeated Baghdatis for the loss of only four games, which set up a match with top seed and World No 1 Roger Federer.

At the 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Ernests Gulbis got off to a winning start in the first round against 2010 Estoril Open champion Albert Montanes.

Ernests Gulbis carried on his good vein of form, defeating 10th seed Mikhail Youzhny and Feliciano Lopez.

However, Ernests Gulbis retired during the first round citing a hamstring injury against the veteran Frenchman and World No 38, Julien Benneteau.

Ernests Gulbis defeated Lukas Lacko in the first round in straight sets, but lost to the in-form Alejandro Falla in the round of 16 in three sets.

Ernests Gulbis defeated World No 26 Thomaz Bellucci in the first round easily, but fell to World No 5 Robin Soderling in the second round in a tight match.

Ernests Gulbis who was the 24th seed, lost in the first round of the US Open to Jeremy Chardy of France in three sets, marking the fourth consecutive first-round lost at a Grand Slam tournament.

Ernests Gulbis received a bye through the first round, and defeated Rainer Schuttler in three sets, advancing to the quarterfinals, where he fell to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in three sets.

Ernests Gulbis then played the Japan Open Tennis Championships, but suffered an upset defeat at the hands of World No 432 Dmitry Tursunov.

Ernests Gulbis suffered two more consecutive first-round losses at the hands of Richard Gasquet, at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, and Novak Djokovic, at the Swiss Indoors.

Ernests Gulbis then fell to Andy Roddick, in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis ended the year at a then-career-high of World No 24.

Ernests Gulbis progressed to the quarterfinals, equaling his 2010 run, where he was defeated in a tight match against World No 1 Rafael Nadal.

Ernests Gulbis received a bye through the first round due to being seeded third for the tournament and defeated Russian Igor Andreev in the second round in three sets.

Ernests Gulbis then defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky in the quarterfinals, before losing to eventual champion Gilles Simon of France in the semifinals, citing fatigue as a cause for his low intensity.

Ernests Gulbis then withdrew from his next three tournaments, his ranking momentarily rising to his personal best of World No 21 due to Marin Cilic failing to defend his points from the 2010 Australian Open.

Ernests Gulbis fell to Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in the second round in three sets.

Ernests Gulbis' season did little to improve as he next played in the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, receiving a bye through the first round, before struggling with Lu Yen-Hsun, but ultimately prevailing, with the first two sets going to tiebreaks.

Ernests Gulbis then proceeded to play the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open, receiving a bye through the first round, but losing in the second round to World No 72 Carlos Berlocq.

Ernests Gulbis proceeded to lose in the first round of the 2011 Serbia Open to Ukrainian Illya Marchenko, in straight sets.

From late April to mid-May, Ernests Gulbis took three weeks off due to fatigue before competing in the 2011 Open de Nice Cote d'Azur.

However, Ernests Gulbis won his second ATP title at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles, where he snapped his five-match losing streak by defeating fifth seed Belgian Xavier Malisse in a final set tiebreak in the first-round.

Ernests Gulbis then defeated American qualifier Daniel Kosakowski in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis faced top seed and World No 9 Mardy Fish in the finals; after double-faulting to hand Fish the first set, he rallied to win the championship match in a close three setter.

Ernests Gulbis received a wildcard entry into the 2011 Rogers Cup.

Ernests Gulbis defeated former World No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in three sets in the first round, and proceeded to defeat Michael Llodra in the second round after Llodra retired, trailing in the second set.

Ernests Gulbis reached the second round of the US Open, but lost to Gilles Muller in the third round.

Ernests Gulbis was later fined for improper coaching by the USTA.

Ernests Gulbis began the year with three first-round losses at Doha, Melbourne and Memphis, but in between won two singles rubbers for the Latvian Davis Cup match against Egypt.

Ernests Gulbis represented Latvia against Hungary, winning one of his two singles rubbers.

Ernests Gulbis lost in the second round in 5 sets to rising star Jerzy Janowicz.

Ernests Gulbis lost to Fernando Verdasco in a topsy-turvy match in the second round of the Croatia Open.

Ernests Gulbis then reached the quarterfinals in Gstaad, losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Ernests Gulbis won the first round of the US Open over Tommy Haas, but crashed out in next round against the American Qualifier Steve Johnson.

Ernests Gulbis finished the year by playing some Challenger tournaments.

Ernests Gulbis came back for the Vienna indoor tournament, where he fell in the second round to Janko Tipsarevic.

Ernests Gulbis didn't manage to qualify for Basel, but reached the final of the Challenger in Eckental, where he lost to Daniel Brands.

Ernests Gulbis decided to take a longer off-season in order to prepare best for next season.

Ernests Gulbis skipped the Australian Open to have a longer off-season and played two Challenger tournaments, where he went out in the second and first rounds.

Ernests Gulbis went to Florida to qualify for the Delray Beach ATP tournament.

Ernests Gulbis continued his excellent start to 2013 with a great run at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

At the French Open Ernests Gulbis lost in the second round to Gael Monfils despite taking the first set.

Ernests Gulbis defeated Feliciano Lopez, Fabio Fognini, and Andy Murray to make the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup, losing to finalist Milos Raonic in three sets.

Ernests Gulbis lost in the first round in Cincinnati and at the US Open to Mikhail Youzhny and Andreas Haider-Maurer, respectively.

Ernests Gulbis won his fourth career ATP tournament in the St Petersburg Open, defeating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the final.

Ernests Gulbis was absent from the 2013 China Open and the 2013 Shanghai Rolex Masters due to illness.

Ernests Gulbis made his next appearance at the 2013 If Stockholm Open where Gulbis made it to the semi-final stage, losing to David Ferrer in three sets.

Ernests Gulbis finished his season with two first round defeats by John Isner and Fernando Verdasco at the 2013 Valencia Open 500 and the 2013 BNP Paribas Masters respectively.

Ernests Gulbis started the new season in Doha, where he reached the quarterfinals, losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal for the seventh time in his career, in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis was seeded at the 2014 Australian Open, and defeated Juan Monaco in the first round in four sets by coming back from losing the first set.

Ernests Gulbis ended the tournament in the second round by losing to Sam Querrey in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis reached the semi-finals of the Rotterdam Open, defeating Grigor Dimitrov and Juan Martin del Potro along the way.

Ernests Gulbis lost the semi-final to the eventual champion Tomas Berdych.

Ernests Gulbis then played in Acapulco where he was seeded seventh, beating Yen-hsun Lu and David Goffin, then losing two sets to one to eventual champion Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals.

Ernests Gulbis then played in Miami, where he was seeded 21st and had a bye into the second round.

Ernests Gulbis started his clay-court season in Monte-Carlo but was defeated in the first round by Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis played in the doubles tournament with Milos Raonic, but lost in the first round to Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

Along the way to the semifinals, Ernests Gulbis defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Albert Montanes, and Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Ernests Gulbis reached the quarterfinal stage in the Rome Masters 1000, defeating Alejandro Falla and Stephane Robert in the process.

However, Ernests Gulbis then lost to David Ferrer again in straight sets.

At the French Open, Ernests Gulbis reached the quarterfinals for the second time courtesy of a five-set victory over world No 4 and 2009 champion Roger Federer.

Ernests Gulbis followed this up with a straight-set win over Tomas Berdych to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

Ernests Gulbis lost to Sergiy Stakhovsky in the round of 64 at Wimbledon and to Julien Benneteau and Steve Johnson in the round of 32 at the Rogers Cup and Cincinnati Masters respectively.

Ernests Gulbis struggled with a shoulder injury in the later part of the season.

At the US Open, Ernests Gulbis crucially lost to Dominic Thiem in five sets, losing the final three, what seemed to have a negative impact on his confidence and physical condition for the rest of the season.

Ernests Gulbis finished the season early due to concerns over his shoulder and illness.

Nevertheless, Ernests Gulbis finished his best career season as No 13, which became his highest year-end ATP ranking.

At the Australian Open, Ernests Gulbis was seeded eleventh, but was defeated by the Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round.

At the Open 13 in Marseille, Ernests Gulbis failed to defend his title from 2014, falling to Jeremy Chardy in two sets in the round of 16.

Ernests Gulbis took his first win of the season against Daniel Gimeno-Traver at the BNP Paribas Open in Indiana Wells.

Ernests Gulbis failed to defend his title from 2014 at the ATP Nice Open, losing to Dominic Thiem in two sets in the quarter-finals.

At the French Open, Ernests Gulbis lost in the second round to Nicolas Mahut, having won in the first round against Igor Sijsling.

Ernests Gulbis then lost in the first round of Wimbledon to Lukas Rosol in three sets.

Ernests Gulbis showed signs of revival at the Rogers Cup, reaching the quarter-finals.

Ernests Gulbis had reached the quarter-final stage of at least one Masters 1000 tournament for a third season in a row.

At the US Open, Ernests Gulbis retired in the first round match against Aljaz Bedene due to injury.

Ernests Gulbis won his first match of the season against world No 171 Quentin Halys at the 2016 Open Sud de France, but lost in the round of 16 to Richard Gasquet in straight sets, who went on to retain his title from the previous year.

Ernests Gulbis went through qualifying at the Rotterdam Open, but then lost in the round of 32 to Gael Monfils.

Ernests Gulbis lost to Richard Gasquet for a second consecutive time in 2016 at the Open 13 in Marseille in the round of 16.

Ernests Gulbis managed to break the losing streak at the 2016 Rome Master by getting through qualifying and beating Ivo Karlovic in three sets in the round of 64, but went down to Pouille in the next round for a second consecutive time.

Ernests Gulbis defeated Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis in the first round of the 2016 Geneva Open, but lost in the round of 16 to Marin Cilic in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis appeared resurgent at the French Open by beating Andreas Seppi, Joao Sousa and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, losing his first set of the tournament only to the latter.

Ernests Gulbis then lost in the round of 16 to David Goffin in four sets.

Ernests Gulbis lost to Benjamin Becker in the first round in Halle and at Wimbledon to Jack Sock in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis did not play in the 2017 Australian Open and lost in qualifying in Rotterdam, Indian Wells, Miami, Barcelona, and Estoril.

Ernests Gulbis lost in the first round of the 2017 Roland Garros to Marin Cilic, but made it to the third round of 2017 Wimbledon, beating Juan Martin del Potro in the second round before losing to Novak Djokovic.

Ernests Gulbis made it to the second round in Bastad and the quarterfinals in Gstaad, losing to Fabio Fognini.

Ernests Gulbis made it to the second round of the US Open, where he fell to Kevin Anderson.

Ernests Gulbis reached the fourth round of 2018 Wimbledon as a qualifier by defeating 4th seed Alexander Zverev in a five set match in the third round, before losing to Kei Nishikori in four sets.

Ernests Gulbis made his first ATP Tour final in four years at the 2018 Stockholm Open, losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas.

In 2018 Ernests Gulbis made his way back to Top 100 men's singles rankings, for the first time since the summer of 2016.

Ernests Gulbis started off his 2020 season with a 3rd round appearance at the 2020 Australian Open losing to Gael Monfils in straight sets and his first challenger title since 2012 at the Pau Open.

From September 2020 to February 2021, Ernests Gulbis failed to win an ATP qualifying match or even a challenger match.

Ernests Gulbis reached the third round of the qualifying competition at 2021 Wimbledon Qualifying after he defeated Dmitry Popko in the first round and then 3rd seed Andrej Martin where he lost only three games.

Ernests Gulbis repeated this feat at the 2021 US Open qualifying where he defeated 26th seed Marc Polmans and Filip Horansky before losing to Quentin Halys in straight sets.

Ernests Gulbis played in three Davis Cup ties for Latvia.

In 2010, Ernests Gulbis continued to participate on the Latvian Davis Cup team, playing against Poland, where he won both of his singles rubbers.

Ernests Gulbis is known for his finesse shots, including the offensive topspin lob and drop shot, both of which he can strike from any position, including from deep in the court.

Ernests Gulbis employs the drop shot consistently and often, sometimes to the point of derision.

Ernests Gulbis plays an extremely aggressive, winner-driven game, which often leads to a high unforced error count, making his consistency an issue in tough matches, often causing him to be likened to Marat Safin.