The Daily Forehand Talks With Ernests Gulbis About Suicide, Twitter, and Marat Safin

CINCINNATI--Ernests Gulbis did not make it past the second round of any tournament in 2009 until October, a slide that saw his ranking fall out of the top 100.  His year ended with a bizarre solicitation charge in Stockholm, followed by a no-show to qualies in Paris, of which he said that he had forgotten he entered the tournament.

But in 2010, things have turned around for the lanky Latvian.  Gulbis is at his career high ranking of #27, though his potential and track record early in his career show the potential for much greater things. Gulbis had considerable success during the European clay swing this spring (including a  before an injury

After a slow start to the US Open Series,  Gulbis is into the third round at Cincinnati with wins over Donald Young and a third set tiebreak win against #13 Jurgen Melzer.  He faces #4 Andy Murray on Thursday.

After his win over Young, I was able to briefly chat with the greatest player in the history of Latvian tennis on a wide range of topics that included Twitter, Marat Safin, and why he will kill himself if things don't improve.

TDF: You're at your career-high ranking now, #27.  How does that feel, because you're someone whose had a lot of success before without your ranking necessarily reflecting it. 

Ernests Gulbis: Yeah, but it's still nothing special.  OK, #27--my goal is not to be #27 all my life.  My goal is to be higher.  So if I end my career and my career high is #27, probably I'm going to shoot myself.

TDF: So with that in mind, do you have a goal in mind for this year? Next year?

Ernests Gulbis: My biggest goal is of course to be first in the world.   #1 in the world, it's a normal goal which every normal tennis player has.  He who doesn't have it is not a full tennis player, I think.  For the next couple months, or next year, I don't have a particular goal.  Maybe I would like to end this season in the Top 15.

TDF: You've beaten Federer this year, you came close to beating Nadal--seems like you can beat anyone on any given day, and there's no one you cannot beat.  Would you agree with that?

Ernests Gulbis: Anybody can beat anybody on any given day.  It's an individual sport.  That's why it's tennis.  That's why I think it's the toughest sport, more than any other sport.  Because, for example, a team sport is a bit different.  If you have team which is three times better than the other team, not all the team can have a bad day.  In tennis, somebody can have a bad day, the other guy has a good day, and in this kind of tournament you're playing the hundred best tennis players in the world, and all of them can play.   So basically, anybody can beat anybody.

TDF: Do you think that's a problem for you, having bad days?  When you lose a match to a player ranked lower than you, is it more about having a bad day than anything else?

Ernests Gulbis: But who did I lose to this year who is much lower than me?  I lost in Los Angeles against [Alejandro] Falla, but it was my first tournament back from injury.  I played in Washington, I lost to [Illya] Marchenko, but I retired because of the heat--didn't feel good.  And then I lost to [Robin] Soderling, so, yeah.  I had a good match against him, and before I beat [Thomaz] Bellucci.  I don't know who I lost to who was so...I lost to Federer in Madrid, I lost to Nadal in Rome, I lost to Verdasco in Barcelona--they're all ranked higher than me, they're all top ten players.

TDF: I was at your match in Washington when you retired against Marchenko--what sort of symptoms were you suffering in the heat? I didn't notice that you were struggling with it at all before you stopped the match.

Ernests Gulbis: First of all, I don't think I'm going to go to Washington again next year.  I really don't like playing in so much humidity.  I don't care so much about heat--for example here, it's hot--but it's not so humid.  But in Washington I'm sweating so much, and I'm losing so much water, and salt, or whatever.  I'm trying to hydrate, but started from the first game to see the ball blurry, and then I was really close to passing out, so I stopped the match.  But the next week I went to Toronto, it was much better weather, and I felt more or less okay.  I start to feel good in two days.

TDF: A lot of comparisons have been drawn between you and Marat Safin, similar personalities and all.  Is he someone that you look up to or emulate with his tennis?

Ernests Gulbis: No, there is nobody who I am looking up to or trying to imitate.  It's just me, it's how it is.  Of course (laughs), Marat's a great guy.  He's one of the tennis players who I was closer to.  We speak the same language, we have similar interests and mentality.   Maybe that's why, because if you see a group of friends, or something, they're all going to be more or less the same, with the same interests, and the same way of life.  Maybe that's why.  I'm not looking at it so much. 

TDF: You won your first title earlier this year in Delray Beach.  Was that a big step in making you think that you can win any tournament you enter now?

Ernests Gulbis: I don't know if ANY tournament, but yeah, it's a first step.  It's a 250 tournament, wasn't the strongest tournament ever.  I played [Ivo] Karlovic in the final, beat some solid players, but none of them top ten, or something.  So it's a first step in a longer process.

TDF: Lastly, a lot of tennis players have recently joined Twitter, and you seem like you have a personality and sense of humor that would lend itself well to--

Ernests Gulbis: No, no, no.  I don't like these kind of things.  I really think the world is becoming slowly degradated, in terms of Facebook, Twitter, "Friends," whatever you call it.  You just don't do nothing, they're sitting at a computer all day, trying to meet people through the computer.  I prefer to go and talk to somebody than to write in a dark room.