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DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPSFebruary 23, 2015Ernests GulbisDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES D. ISTOMIN/E. Gulbis THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. What's going on? ERNESTS GULBIS: I don't know what's going on. Q. In the beginning you went up 4‑1 and then things changed. Can you just talk about conditions and what changed for you in that match? ERNESTS GULBIS: Yeah, I'm not in good form right now. I'm not feeling my shots at all. I have no timing. In practice I have been playing worse than in the match. The match was bad. I moved well in the beginning of the match, but somehow, you know, it's tough when you don't have the feeling for the shots. Every player is different, but for me it's very important to have feeling of the racquet when I contact the ball, is a purely technical thing. If I have it, everything slowly starts to put together, you know, the moving, the serve, everything. As soon as I lose the feeling of the racquet, of the contact of the ball, everything else collapses. That's what's been happening the last couple of tournaments. For me it's very tough to change it during tournaments. I need to have week, two weeks. Two weeks would be good for practice, for good practice, and then I can change something. To go from tournament to tournament and to try to change things in two, three days, it's almost impossible for me. If I'm lucky and if I would win one match, then maybe next round is going to be a little bit better. Unfortunately, that's reality, all the other guys, they play good. If you're not in decent shape you cannot win these matches. You can gain confidence in the lower tournaments, like I don't know, Challengers, you can get some easy matches. Here you don't get easy matches. Q. You're a very philosophical guy that thinks about other things other than tennis. Is it something that worries you, keeps you awake at night? ERNESTS GULBIS: What exactly worries me, that I'm philosophical guy or... Q. No, no, that tennis isn't going too well at the moment. ERNESTS GULBIS: Yes, it worries me because it's a big part of my life. It's probably the most important short‑term goal of my life to become the best I can be on the tennis court. It worries me, definitely worries me. Does it keep me awake in the night? No. Q. When do you get the two weeks that you'd like? ERNESTS GULBIS: Hopefully now. Hopefully now. It's Indian Wells. I cannot tell you exact dates. You maybe know better. I'm seeded there. Maybe I'm going to play even Thursday or Friday, so I'm having maybe not two full weeks but close to that. So I'm going to dedicate at least 10 days. You know, 10 days of good practice, you can change something. Q. Where will you go to do that?  Back to Latvia? ERNESTS GULBIS: I have to go to Latvia for two, three days, two days, and then we will see, then maybe plan it. Maybe go early to the States, practice there. Maybe somewhere in Europe. Probably to the States. Q. Do you have an idea what needs to be changed, or... ERNESTS GULBIS: I have a lot of ideas, yes. I know exactly what I need to change, and ‑‑ I know exactly what I need to change. I don't have the tools how to change it, what exercises is necessary to do to change these things. If I watch myself from the side, if I watch video of myself playing, I can tell you exactly what I did wrong there, wrong there. I see my mistakes pretty well. For me it's very hard, always was. Some players, they are like‑‑ for example, Federer I think is a clear example how he can change his game even during ‑‑not even during one match but during one game. He tries a lot of different things. He changes, and that's why he's that good, because he adjusts himself very well. For me, it's very difficult to adjust myself. For me, it's a matter of finding this feeling and then continue to work on it, you know, to get the repetition on it. I'm like a repetition kind of guy. I need to find the feeling, and then play many, many hours the same shot. Then I get confident. Then I feel fit. Then I feel like the ball comes and I'm not gonna miss it. Now I feel the ball comes. It's a 50/50 chance and I don't really control my shots. This is the worst feeling to be on the court with. Q. You had six consecutive losses. ERNESTS GULBIS: I had a different record. Three years ago I had 18 tournaments in a row where I lost second round. I'm a record kind of guy. Q. After the semis you lost the first round and then...(indiscernible). ERNESTS GULBIS: Last year I don't consider nothing about last year now because end of last year I had different problems. One problem was my shoulder injury. I really struggled since, including US Open, the last tournaments, you know, I just went, I played, because I knew that injury cannot get worse. It's not that kind of injury. I needed time to fix it and I needed my offseason time to fix it. And offseason I couldn't practice 100% because for two weeks I was fixing my injury. So all these things, they come together, and it's a little bit lack of time. I was planning to play Doha beginning of the year. I couldn't play it. I got sick. These are, okay, stupid excuses, you know, but small things they come together and this is what ‑‑Istomin is waiting. Q. I saw you just after you checked into the hotel and you said your bags had gone missing. When did they turn up, and were your racquets amongst the things that were missing? ERNESTS GULBIS: I hate to travel with my racquets on me when I travel, because I don't like when everybody knows that you're a tennis player (smiling). I try to hide this fact. Q. You didn't have any racquets? ERNESTS GULBIS: I had racquets because I was lucky enough to have one gag came, and another one didn't come. So the racquets came and the shoes didn't come. I bought shoes here one size too small, so I was practicing in shoes one size too small. Didn't break my good mood until today's match. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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