Rising Star Gulbis Pumped For Murray Showdown

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If Andy Murray is to make it through to the quarterfinals of The Artois Championships for the first time, he is going to have to overcome a teenager on top of his game and full of confidence after reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open just last week.

Ernests Gulbis, the 19-year-old from Latvia who was the last man to defeat Tim Henman in Paris 12 months ago, now stands in the way of current British No. 1 Murray on the grass courts of The Queen’s Club.

Gulbis had never won a match on grass until he arrived here in London after his impressive exploits in the French capital captivated the imagination. Only a tense three-set loss to good friend Novak Djokovic prevented the teenager from a semifinal against Rafael Nadal on that occasion, but the experience stands him in good stead to cope with the pressures of Centre Court against Murray.

“I’ll be pumped,” said Gulbis with a smile after his three-set victory over Andreas Seppi in the second round. “I hope it’s going to be a close match. He can play really good tennis, especially on grass. I don't know if he grew up on grass, but for sure he played a lot more than me. I think that also my game is pretty suitable for grass. My biggest weapon is serve. When you serve well on grass, it's tough to break.”

Gulbis, whose father and grandfather both played basketball in Russia at the highest level, was introduced to the tennis by his grandmother at the tender age of five. Since turning professional in 2004, he has already broken into the Top 50 and enjoyed victories over Top 10 players, including Tommy Robredo in Paris last week.

“It gives you a lot of confidence because now I know that I can play at the same level as the top players, that I can beat players ranked Top 10,” says Gulbis. “Tennis is a lot about the mental situation. Some players, when they play against the top three such as Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, they think that they can play well for one set but if they lose a set they have a mental breakdown, they don’t believe in themselves that they can win. That’s the biggest problem.

“Even though I lost to Djokovic, a top three player right now, I was fighting and I think every set was really close. That’s what it gives me, confidence that I can play same level as them. The more those matches come, it’s going to be tough to beat me.”

Gulbis is a good friend of Djokovic having played with the Serb for years at the Niki Pilic Academy in Munich, which he first attended when he was 12. But he says won’t be turning to the World No. 3 for advice when it comes to facing Murray. “No, I won't ask him because I'll ask my coach [Karl-Heinz Wetter]” he says. “He knows him good, as well. It's okay.”

Having revealed that he and Djokovic used to get up to various crazy things during their time together, Gulbis says he will be keeping things low-key during his time in London, a month in which he is very much looking forward to.

“Every big city has its own aura,” he says. “London is really nice. My sister studied here and I stayed with her in her apartment last year before she moved to New York. Now I’m staying in a house next to Wimbledon and I didn’t want to go to a tournament in between. I feel very good, I like it here. Hopefully the weather stays the same.

“We don’t have any particular plans. My father’s booked some concert tickets to Eric Clapton, the Police, so if I stay long enough in Wimbledon, I’m going to go to those concerts. Otherwise, when you’re in the tournament you don’t make any plans, but if you have a free day I’d like to go to some musicals, I saw some last year, so I’d like to go again.”

Judging by his rapid rise so far, don’t be surprised to see him there and creating more headlines in the coming weeks.