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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPSJune 11, 2014Ernests GulbisLONDON, ENGLAND K. De SCHEPPER/E. Gulbis THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How different was that to playing on clay? ERNESTS GULBIS: Very different (smiling). It was my second day only.  I came ‑‑when did I come? Monday. Yeah, I came Monday. Yeah, not much what I could expect. But honestly I didn't feel I played that bad. I had ball pretty well on the racquet. Yeah, moving was bad but he served incredible. I mean, I had six break points the first set. You have to give the guy credit. He serves really, really well in important points. What can I do? Q. Difficult guy to play in your first match? ERNESTS GULBIS: Very difficult, yeah. I would prefer to play somebody who plays more baseline, because I didn't have bad feeling from the baseline. I served also not so bad except the last game, but the last game it was just lack of concentration. I was a little bit out last game. Q. Do you like the grass? ERNESTS GULBIS: I like the grass, yes. But it's always‑‑ for me, I never played well the first tournament. I always played decent in Wimbledon if I practiced well. So now I'm going to stay here, practice two weeks on grass. I'm going to be fully fine for Wimbledon. I feel good. I hit the ball well. All my motions are pretty good. It's just basically getting used to it. Q. How important or useful is it to have done well in Paris or on the clay to when you get on to the grass? How does it help? ERNESTS GULBIS: If you play well on clay, that means that you come from a good clay tournament with good physical condition. You know, you feel fit, like you can run forever. Here is no need for that, but here is trying to just get used to the moving. It's not much to analyze, eh? I need one week on grass. That's it. Nothing else to say. Q. Did you look at the world rankings when they came out this week? ERNESTS GULBIS: No. Q. No? ERNESTS GULBIS: No. Because I saw live ATP rankings week before already when I was finishing that I saw. But next week I didn't watch. Q. I just wondered if you might like to look at it and see your name there, No. 10? ERNESTS GULBIS: Yes, I would enjoy. I'm going to watch now (smiling). Q. Maybe you'll be 11 next week after this. ERNESTS GULBIS: Who can ‑‑yeah, maybe. It's a lot of points until 9, but anyway, all of us who are around there, we need to make another good result just stabilize top 10. Hopefully Wimbledon, whoever is going to play well in Wimbledon, he's gonna stay in the top 10 afterwards. Q. We make a lot out of, you know, being in the top 10 or top 20. For you, as a player, what does it mean to you? ERNESTS GULBIS: For me it's more important is the year‑end top 8. Now I would say it's a pretty realistic goal for this year. I would be happy‑‑ yeah, like one year ago my goal would be, let's say, this year or next year to be in the top 8, so now it's already realistic it can be this year. Wimbledon, US Open, it's going to depend a lot on that. Q. With the ranking, it must be a good feeling going into something like Wimbledon knowing you're not going to face any of the top guys until... ERNESTS GULBIS: It's perfect. Yeah, but then you can face somebody like Karlovic, like this guy I played today, like some ‑‑ you know, who they don't really play well on other surfaces, but when it's fast indoors and fast grass courts, they play well in these other tournaments when they make points. So this is a little bit uncomfortable. You never know. If you play Spanish guy, you know, then it's perfect (smiling). But anyway, for sure it's better here if you're ranked higher. Q. You said after the French Open that you struggled to enjoy your wins because you were thinking about your next match and that in a way you were relieved? ERNESTS GULBIS: Yeah, so now I'm going to enjoy my loss. I have enough time to fully enjoy it. (Laughter.) Q.My question was going to be do you feel like as time pass and is it gets a little bit further away that you'll be able to enjoy the fact that you made it to the semifinals of a Grand Slam? ERNESTS GULBIS: No. I'm over it. Honestly, I'm over it. Of course I enjoy it and it will stay in my memory forever because until now it's my best result. But to enjoy it, I can enjoy something not really long after it happens. You know, the enjoyment, it goes away. I'm, in a way, proud of myself and what I could do because for me it's a big thing. I won Nice. Straight, I went to Paris. You know, I played 11 matches in a row. Yeah, 10 matches without losing in a row. That's big for me. Do I enjoy it right now? No, I need to make next results. Q. Did you have a chance to celebrate at all? ERNESTS GULBIS: A little bit in Latvia. I was two days back home. Yeah, just went. There was a little bit celebration, yeah (smiling). Q. What kind of thing? ERNESTS GULBIS: Okay, so I went ‑‑first of all, I smoked a cigar with my friends outside in Jurmala. It's a city next to the sea. It's really nice there. Now it's perfect weather. Then everybody went to Kazanow, and we had just one special room and we played Blackjack. They had a couple drinks. Unfortunately I didn't. In a way, it was just the company of friends. Nothing extra. I didn't go out or something like that. Q. How did you get on? ERNESTS GULBIS: I lost. I lost a lot. Q. You lost all the money you won in Paris? ERNESTS GULBIS: Not really, no. That would be tough. Q. Do you like Blackjack? ERNESTS GULBIS: I like Blackjack, yeah, but I'm not a big gambler. I do it for fun. You play, you have fun with your friends. I'm not a gambler. Q. And no alcohol? ERNESTS GULBIS: No, unfortunately not. Q. Not even a tiny bit? ERNESTS GULBIS: I would love to. I would love to. But I have to keep ‑‑if I have a tiny sip, it's dangerous. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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