Topic: Ernest Gulbis

Ernests Gulbis (pronounced , born August 30, 1988) is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schüttler, and in 2010 won his first ATP Tour singles title in the Delray Beach, defeating Ivo Karlović in the final. His career highlights also include a 4th round appearance at the 2007 US Open and a quarterfinal appearance at the 2008 French Open, as well as several other ATP World Tour semifinal appearances.

Gulbis' professional training in tennis began at the age of 12, when he was enrolled at the Niki Pilić Tennis Academy in Latvia. As of late 2009, Gulbis is coached by Hernán Gumy, after the retirement of Marat Safin. Gulbis was formerly coached by Karl Heinz Wetter and subsequently Nikola Pilić, the former professional Croatian tennis player and Croatian and German Davis Cup captain.

Gulbis comes from a very wealthy family. He first started playing tennis with his grandmother and considers basketball, football and hockey as his favorite sports. His father, Ainārs, is an investment businessman while his mother, Milēna, a theater actress. The second of five children, Gulbis has three sisters and two brothers, one of which is training in Florida to become a professional tennis player as well. Gulbis comes from a sporting family in general and his grandfather, Alvils Gulbis, was one of the starting five players on ASK Rīga, the Soviet Union basketball team that won the European Championships. His other grandfather, Uldis Pūcītis, was a popular actor and film director.