Ernests Gulbis came within a whisker of dethroning clay king Rafael Nadal at the Rome Masters and then revealed it is not just on the court that he is getting attention.
The Latvian 21-year-old was watched by Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova, just a day after Viktoria Azarenka of Belarus was courtside to take in his game.
They cannot have failed to have been impressed with the way he played against Nadal, before going down 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in Saturday’s semi-finals.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The man who openly admits to enjoying the trappings of his fame more than the hard grind needed to earn it revealed he is now looking forward to exploiting his position.
“I’m becoming popular with the girls,” he said. “But Vickie is just an old friend and I think she likes the way I’m playing. I think she might want to learn something from me. She’s a great girl.”
Gulbis, who knocked out world No. 1 Roger Federer in the second round, floats through life with the air of a man who has everything.
Good looking and talented, he also comes from a wealthy family that supported his bid to become a professional, and he has no troubles admitting to the head-start he’s had in life.
“Basically, my father does nothing right now. He travels with me and has fun. My mother, she does nothing, she just stays at home and watches my tennis matches,” Gulbis said. “My sisters, they play tennis, but I don’t know why. My brother he plays golf, that’s probably better than tennis.”
The downside of having everything come so easily to him is that Gulbis, as he admits, is no “tennis freak.”
Earlier in the week, he said he didn’t like training and used to take regular days off.
And at the end of the match, he played a very sloppy game that allowed the never-say-die Nadal to claim victory, but Gulbis denied that their different attitudes had been the difference between success and failure.
Nadal himself believes that with his big serve, Gulbis has the potential to be a great player, but he said he was surprised at the lack of progress the Latvian has made.
■STUTGART
REUTERS, STUTTGART, GERMANY
Justine Henin reached her third final in fourth months since her comeback when she brushed aside Shahar Peer in her semi-final at Stuttgart’s indoor clay tournament on Saturday.
The Belgian wild card, warming up for her first appearance at Roland Garros since winning her fourth French Open title there in 2007, won 6-3, 6-2 and was to meet Samantha Stosur in yesterday’s final.
The Australian, seeded seven, beat Russian qualifier Anna Lapushchenkova 7-5, 6-3.
Henin has already reached the finals at Brisbane and the Australian Open since returning to action in January following a 19-month break from the game.
Peer hit back from an early service break to level at 2-2, but after that had little answer to the ruthless Henin, whose only problem was with her first serve.
“It has been a great performance,” Henin told reporters. “I feel really comfortable at the moment and am enjoying being on the court, especially at one of my favorite tournaments.”
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