Gulbis to win US Open

After putting out the talented veteran Tommy Haas in the first round, Gulbis has taken the first set against Johnson. The powerful, hardworking Latvian has surely become odds-on to take the title, and will doubtless fulfil the potential which many have seen in him for so long. Only a fool would bet against Gulbis now.

I'd bet on Nadal ahead of him and he isn't even participating.

All laughter aside Gulbis and Monfils are two of the most physically talented guys to ever play the game yet they are unfortunately two of the biggest headcases and lack the commitment. I like the comedic post chazz. But I have always been a big fan Gulbis' potential. He really is as physically and technically gifted as anyone on tour and that includes the big 4. Except he really doesn't care that much about tennis considering his movie star mother and billionaire father. Imagine what a guy like Ferrer with that kind of mentality would do with 140 mph serve, oodles of power off the ground, great movement and speed, in a six three body. Instead God has chosen gulbis the gentleman playboy for this body and hopefully Ernie can borrow something of the mindset and focus of guys like Ferrer who don't have one tenth his ability.

The reason I wrote the post was because I too am a fan of Gulbis, and am just waiting for him to do something other than go out in the first two rounds of every tournament he enters. With the combination of immense power and good racquet skills that he possesses, it's depressing how poor his results have been. However, I still believe that he's the kind of player that could put out virtually anyone on his day, and am eagerly waiting for a purple patch to inspire a decent grand slam run.

Gulbis strikes me as having the ideal life-style - rich, likes parties and women, and talented enough to have a good time travelling the world on the pro tennis circuit without trying too hard. I know some people chastise him for lack of commitment, but who are we to judge, or tell him how to live his life? Well done, you lucky sod, I say!

If people are looking for a shot in the dark slam winner Gulbis is the kind of guy who has the game as you say to beat anyone on his day. To me when I first saw him move, come to net, blow the ball up off both wings and the serve I said this is the future of tennis. I just had no idea that he just doesn't care that much. Well that was my mistake. One thing we can hold out hope for it seems that players are taking longer to mature and having success later in their careers and Gulbis is still young I think he is 23 so that is only two years older than Raonic, so maybe Gulbis will be a renaissance man in the second half of his career.

Julius it is not me telling the guy how to live. I think maybe he wants to better but his circumstances haven't instilled him with the same fire and desire of other players. Yes he is living the charmed life, and more power to him. But I mean if this guy dedicates himself for a couple of years, I am not talking lifetime of drudgery digging graves or laying bricks, we are talking about playing tennis. If this guy gives you two years of serious Djoko, Fed, Nadal type of commitment I will show you Ernst Gulbis grandslam champion. I mean image how much more tail he could get later in life as Ernie Gulbis billionaire and former wimby champion. That is all it would take from Gulbis, 2 maybe 3 years of federesque commitment and really as crazy as it sounds if he did that I don't think people could stop him from grabbing his fair share of glory and trophies.

After that he can go and cruise around on his yacht and date supermodels like god intended for him. I mean just give us 2 years of fire Ernie that is really all it would take to make a big mark.

If people are looking for a shot in the dark winner. I vote for Roddick. It would be amazing and would put an end to all this talk of "groundhog tennis". If we all cheer really hard for him he could do it I'm sure. Who's with me?

socal1976 wrote:Julius it is not me telling the guy how to live.

I know. In the past some people have criticised him for not dedicating himself solely to tennis, that's all.

hawkeye wrote:If people are looking for a shot in the dark winner. I vote for Roddick. It would be amazing and would put an end to all this talk of "groundhog tennis". If we all cheer really hard for him he could do it I'm sure. Who's with me?

I can hear lots of silence...

Good try Hawkeye, but I am not a fan of Roddick's brand of tennis frankly. I have been forced to watch thousands of hours of Roddick tennis by US broadcasters who would ignore other great matches to just focus on Andy and the Williams sisters. For that reason alone I am eagerly anticpating my next year's grandslam viewing without Roddick. Don't get me wrong I do respect the guy's accomplishments and commitment. But he would way down the list of guy's I would like to see win this open, despite his retirement. I hope he goes out with a bang and deserves all the great things he has but don't want to see him win this slam over Djoko, or even Gulbis or Gazza would be way before Andy for me.

He's losing to Steve Johnson, the American wildcard outside the top 200

LIke I said the young Americans are doing real well, so are the older ones so far. At least for the early rounds. Johnson has a lot of ability to and really like sock and harrison. IMBL, that is just like Gulbis he takes out one of the form players on tour in Tommy Haas who is seeded in the first round and struggles against a relative unknown like Johnson.

Oh dear Chaz.

What a prediction! Gulbis knocked out in the Second Round by a wildcard ranked 200+ in four sets.

Did you miss the irony in the article? This is a good article by the way.

I have been slightly burned before, I tipped Gulbis to make the top 10 after he had some good clay results, and took a set off Nadal. But now the default position has to be that he will never go to that level. It's up to him to prove that wrong.

He could still buy the title

After watching Gulbis beat Birdbrain @ Wimbledon I had high hopes and really liked his style of play and hoped he would progress far but he subsequently crashed and burned almost immediately in the next round. After that, I learned that only a fool would place much hope that Gulbis will progress far into a slam! So I'm not surprised at all that he's made another swift exit in R2 of the USO. I only got the last game of the match (he just lost) but he didn't look like the same player who beat Birdbrain - he's just too inconsistent hence why he's sadly only destined to be a journeyman, but alas, not one who'll ever need to take a taxi (rather a limousine).

I think if it ever does click the one thing he has going for him is that players are having their best results now later and later, so it still hasn't passed Gulbis by. But he needs to flip the switch fast maybe something along the lines of what happened to Agassi in the second half of his career. When he is firing on all cyclinders he is one of the toughest guys to beat. But fortunately for his opposition he rarely puts it all together, poor shot selection and fitness seemingly will doom ernie.

By the way I would not completely dismiss young Johnson as an opponent the kid has big weapons and some competive greatness already in the fact that he won 72 consecutive collegiate matches. The college ranks in the states showing that they still can produce quality pros. I probably would rate division 1 college to be as tough as tough if not tougher than the futures and the low level challengers. The top tier challengers are much tougher than the college ranks. And despite the lower level opposition he played in the Pac 10 the toughest conference for tennis in the states so that number is pretty impressive. This kid is probably a top 30 player in the future.

Ha; I had a feeling that as soon as I wrote 'one set up against Johnson', Gulbis would go on to lose the next 3. Classic. Oh well, at least Gulbis got further than another of my favourite players, David Nalbandian, who went out without even setting foot on court. Looks likes it up to Roger to carry the burden of my support once again...