	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

MEDIBANK INTERNATIONAL

January 13, 2011

Ernests Gulbis

SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES

E. GULBIS/S. Stakhovsky
6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You made a great start today, and then things got a bit more difficult. What happened in there?
ERNESTS GULBIS: Yesterday's match killed me physically. It was really humid and I lost a lot fluids, so straight I went to the hotel and I went to sleep. I didn't feel good.
Today morning I didn't know if I am going to be able to play, but start of the match I felt really good. First set I was aggressive, it paid off.
Second set in the end I was a bit tired, getting every game more and more tired. If it would be third set I would lose for sure, but in two sets I won.

Q. How do you feel now?
ERNESTS GULBIS: Bad. (Smiling.) No, physically bad; mentally, happy. Physically, not really good.

Q. You think you will recover for tomorrow?
ERNESTS GULBIS: Yeah, for sure. Same like today. I will do some treatment. I will go to have a bath, ice massage, whatever it takes. Going to be okay tomorrow. I just can't go really long matches.
Don't tell Simon. (Laughing.)

Q. Is it going to affect the way you're going to approach tomorrow? Will you change your game plan?
ERNESTS GULBIS: No, my game plan is simple: I go for my serve, I go for my shots, I make the points short. I'm not going to try to run Simon from baseline. He's for longer rallies I think maybe he's much more -- I don't know the word -- but he's much more used to play longer rallies than me.
So I'm just going to just go, shorten the rallies, and same like today. We'll see.

Q. How will it set you up for the Australian Open? Obviously you're tired now, but you will have played a lot of matches this week. Do you feel like that will be good preparation for the Australian Open?
ERNESTS GULBIS: To be really, really honest, I would prefer to play semifinal in Doha because that's one week before, you know. Right the week before Melbourne, it's tough, you know, because, okay, I'm really happy that I am here in semis and I am still going.
But if I finish on Sunday, it's going to be a little bit tough to be 100% for Melbourne. I will be mentally 100% because I get confident, maybe that's more important for me now than the physical side.
So we'll see. I don't know. I really can't answer. It depends how I'm still going to play. Mentally I will be perfect for the Open. Physically, we will see.
Today it was better than yesterday, so maybe tomorrow is going to be better than today.

Q. Physically you have some problem because the preparation was very hard, or because you need still more to work?
ERNESTS GULBIS: No, because it's humid. I'm not a player who likes to play in humidity. It affects me a lot. The heat doesn't affect me. I can play in plus-40 degrees and it's okay, but if it's humid like it was yesterday -- yesterday was like 90% humidity. That is a lot. That was tough for me.
The rest, physically I feel perfect. I'm in my best shape because I am not tired like with my body. My legs are not tired, it's not sore, everything is fine. It's just I feel bad. I don't know how to explain it.

Q. So you had an excellent off-season? Where did you train? Did you train somewhere hot?
ERNESTS GULBIS: Yes, I went in the mountains in Switzerland for two weeks. We did skiing, running, gym in the snow in the mountains, which was really good.
Then we went to Miami, same like we did the year before. Played more tennis, still went with the physical side, and now working together will also a new physio, Michal Novotny. He was helping me in Miami with a different approach. Not so much weights, but different.
I feel perfect.

Q. You mean weights in the gym type weights?
ERNESTS GULBIS: Yeah, I didn't do so much weights. I did a lot of different, interesting exercise, because I hate to go to gym. I hate to lift iron stuff.

Q. In terms of the men's game now, how tough is a tournament like this running up to a Grand Slam? Might get fewer and fewer people.
ERNESTS GULBIS: Everybody says it. You ask any player, the season is too long. I mean, everybody gets injured more, everybody gets tired more, and you really have to try and decide when to go to the tournament.
For example, this year my calendar is gonna be different than last year's calendar. I'm going to be skipping a lot of tournaments during the middle of the season because it's going to be too much otherwise.
This year, we decided to play Sydney because last year I played Doha quarterfinal. I played really good. But I went to Melbourne too early, and I was just practicing, practicing and I was just getting mentally tired. I got to like overburned, overexcited for my match.
So this time we decided to go to play a tournament. Doesn't matter I play how I play, just to change the city, you know. Not to stay in Melbourne for one week before tournament.
I think that's the best thing.

Q. You're at the edge of the top 20 now. I presume your goal for the year is to get even higher up the rankings. How far do you feel you can go this year?
ERNESTS GULBIS: Top 10 definitely. Then when you're top 10 you can try to go up. Everything is open. But my first goal is top 10.

Q. You've got a win over Federer this year. Did that make a difference to you in terms of what you felt like you could achieve in your game?
ERNESTS GULBIS: I think if I play my best tennis I can beat anybody. It's not being too confident or too -- I'm just realistic, because many players don't like to play against me maybe because of my game. I have a good serve; I'm playing aggressive tennis; I don't give a lot players the rhythm.
So if I'm top of my game, I'm in top shape, it's tough for them to get into the game. If I am not in my best shape, then I lose basically to everybody. (Laughing.)

Q. But that you had belief even before you beat Federer or is it...
ERNESTS GULBIS: Of course Federer match is something special. I beat him; I beat No. 1 player in the world. It gives you extra confidence. Doesn't matter if it's Federer or somebody else who's No. 1, it gives you more confidence.

Q. What do you think of the possibility of the so-called Rafa slam? What does it mean for you that he may win the four slams in a row?
ERNESTS GULBIS: For me, doesn't mean anything. For him it probably means a lot. For me, great; happy for him. But for me actually...

Q. Do you think it's possible?
ERNESTS GULBIS: Everything is possible. Of course.

Q. Huge, can it be very huge? How big of an achievement do you think it could be?
ERNESTS GULBIS: You know the answer. You don't need to ask me these questions. It's huge, big, unbelievable. I mean, I would like to win a Grand Slam in my dreams sometimes also.
We'll see how it goes. For me, it's no emotions because it's his life; it's his game.

Q. You say you're tired now and you're suffering from the humidity and exhaustion, but you say you're mentally strong. How assured are you of winning this tournament? How confident are you about winning this tournament?
ERNESTS GULBIS: I'm not thinking about it. I just go to every match. I'm not thinking at all about winning or losing. I just go. Every match is a different match. I'm not thinking about the final now or how to -- I have a match tomorrow against Simon. I will go on it and play the best I can. If I win, good; if I lose, okay, I go to Melbourne.
I'm not under any kind of pressure. I have no points to defend. The points what I win now I gain. Four Grand Slams, I have zero points to defend. Basically I'm probably in the best position of anybody in top 30 right now to go up in my rankings.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297