Ernests fiery return! Andis and Deniss runners-up Tampere CH doubles
04 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment
in Andis Juska, Deniss Pavlovs, Ernests Gulbis
Ernests returned to tennis in LA last week seeded 5th,keen to get some wins again,rustiness and frustration prevailed throughout his game. His serving was pretty impressive in his matches,but too often his erratic forehand let him down. He defeated Lukas Lacko quite impressively,to say he’s been 2 months without competition, scoreline 7-5 7-5.
His 2nd round match vs Colombian Alejandro Falla, was also full of twists and turns,luckily they were of the right variety physically at least,his footing and footwork were reasonable, no untimely slips Ernests went out to a 3-0 lead in final set,then he began to tire,throwing in dropshots at totally inappropriate moments to conserve energy, and totally lost his focus and his way, yet fought back to 5-5, and onto the tie-break losing it 10-8.
Throughout the match, Ernests seemed bothered by the crowd, who seemed pro Falla, though there was a sizeable Colombian contingent cheering Falla’s every winning point. Unfortunately though, Ernests also had several outbursts of temper,taking his frustration angrily out on his racket twice ,and was warned by Umpire Fergus Murphy of Ireland. He was docked a point penalty for the 2nd racket breaking offence. Ernests also threw his racket into the net, and banged it right under the nose of Umpire Murphy but no further action was taken.
Ernests enjoyed some doubles success with ‘Dima’( Dmitry) Tursunov of Russia, saving matchpoints in his 1st round over Rettenmaier and (Santiago) Gonzalez an American/Mexican combination, running out 11-9 winners in final champions tie-break.
A few hours after going out to Falla, Ernests and Dima played the Bryan brothers, and finished with a very respectable scoreline, Ernests played the better of their partnership, and there were plenty of smiles from him. The scoreline was 7-5 6-3 to the Bryans.
Ernests had his usual quips and one liners for the press after his defeat by Falla. Here’s the best of them
Q: What was your mind saying to you on court in the third set?
EG: Don’t die on court. I was so tired. I didn’t feel so tired, never. I think it’s because of the big break I had between matches. First round was also physical but this one was a joke. Like since the third set I got early break but still I was exhausted. It was really tough for me to go all the way.
Q: Is that why you trying to do a lot of drop shots?
EG: Yeah. Because I really physically couldn’t run anymore. I was trying to but I wanted to make the points shorter and I couldn’t make any winners today from any side on the court so basically nothing worked today. I was just running like I don’t know Spanish clay court players staying around on the baseline. Pushing the ball back. Women’s tennis.
Q: Would you say it’s more mental or physical or both?
EG: (pause) I don’t know. Mental physical everything. I didn’t play for two months. If you don’t do something for two months it is really tough. If you don’t fish for tough months then maybe you forget how to fish. Tennis is same way.
Q: On court you played pretty well in your first match so this must be disappointing.
EG: I didn’t play well in first match. I played well in clay court season. In first match also I was not attacking I didn’t play attacking tennis at all. I was falling back on my forehand. So I need to fix that. I play doubles here and play doubles in Washington to get a couple matches to stay on court. Doesn’t matter if I win or lose. Of course I’m upset that I lost but I’m not so upset because it’s first tournament and it’s normal. Coach told me it’s going to be tough first round doesn’t matter. I have to be ready for bigger tournaments Toronto, Cincinnati, U.S. Open.
Q: Are there any positives you can take out this week?
EG: Positive is that I played more than two hours in a match and sweat a little bit also when you practice you cannot lose your weight so fast and when I play I lose a couple of kilos, not much maybe three kilos but it affects your body. But when you practice you cannot. Think I lost maybe half a kilo today so that’s positive.
Q: Surviving all those match points was that also a positive?
EG: Yeah it was really surviving. It wasn’t winning but it was surviving. What can I say I lost today. Not a positive but there is doubles tonight.
Q: Gulbis when you were given the point penalty for tossing the racquet did it surprise you at all?
EG: No it didn’t surprise me because his only fun in life is to give someone warnings.
This referee his only purpose in life is to give somebody warnings. He is like a police officer when they see a car they stop it and they have so much fun to give you a ticket. In Latvia, I stop where you cannot stop and they have a smile on their face as they give me a ticket, ha. Same with this guy. Whatever I would do I would get a warning. Even before the match I knew so.
Q: Were you concerned about getting another penalty in the tiebreaker?
EG: He wouldn’t do that cause if he did that it would be pretty bad. Come on. People pay money to come to see tiebreak. And then one guy comes and does that. People enjoy it. Come on. Seven six in the third. Doesn’t matter what kind of tennis. They paid money to see the tennis it wasn’t best tennis but it was a good fight. I broke racquets but still I think they booed me but honestly they enjoyed it. People have emotions and everything is positive in that and if you disqualify me in the tiebreaker he would be really stupid.
Q: Do you know if there’s a rule about if you throw your racquet on match point?
EG: There is no rule there is just there is a rule…actually I don’t know the rules. (audience laughter) No. No. One thing I know if you break a racquet and then you change it immediately without not playing one more point. That’s a warning. But if you throw a racquet that is for the umpire to decide.
Q: We lost count. How many did you break?
EG: Just two. (audience laughter)
Q: Seems like you were getting upset with some people in the stands or something else. Was something else bothering you besides you weren’t playing well?
EG: No. I was not upset but I don’t understand why people have to talk or scream during a service or before service. They have to understand they paid the money to come out and enjoy tennis. But they also have to understand that this is our job we get money for it. It like us going to work. And I’m not going to their work and not when they are writing on their computer or whatever and I’m not screaming in their ear something to distract them (audience laughter). Not that’s there has to be balance. Of course emotions and everything but come on. When I throw the ball up and somebody behind me does like some stupid sound like (burr) or something, of course I get upset because I hear it. If it’s more people you don’t notice it because it’s too many sounds. You hear every single things and moving so sometimes it’s distracting.
Q: You said before you don’t like to spend too much practicing. Is it because you’re having too much fun with your life right now?
EG: Yeah big big fun. I go now to hotel to lay down and then come back here for doubles and then I go back to sleep and then come back out for more practice. Most fun. When you are in tournaments there is no fun. It’s just day by day practice. Of course I don’t enjoy spending time playing practice with my coach because I like competing. More matches I can compete better. For example I was in Buenos Aires training for two weeks and then it was really tough for me because I was really anxious to come here because I cannot spend a lot of time without matches.
Q: How do you deal with fans playing Davis Cup when on the road because they can get more rowdy than in a regular match?
EG: (pause) I get pissed. I break racquets. (mild laughter)
Ernests appointed Michal Novotny to work with him as his full-time physical trainer, he resigned his post with the ATP to begin working with Ernests from this weeks event in Washington, as 9th seed Ernests received a bye, he starts the tournament today against Ilya Marchenko of Ukraine.
Andis and Deniss finished runners-up in Tampere Challenger, losing out to the events No 2 seeds. Andis has reached his career best doubles ranking of 158! Deniss is now ranked 267 in doubles.
Deniss, Mikelis Libietis, and Arturs Kazijevs are competing in Lithuania F1 this week, Arturs in singles and doubles, Mikelis in doubles competition, Deniss returns to singles action in addition to partnering Mikhail Vasiliev of Russia in the doubles event. Artus lost in singles,winning only 4 games against Johan Backstrom of Sweden, Deniss began his singles campaign with a great win over 5th seeded Belgian Alexandre Folie, dropping only 7 games!!
Karlis Lejnieks returned to singles action this week in U.S.A.Futures21 in Illinois as 3rd seed but lost in straight sets to Abraham Souza an American wild-card.
