Ernests Gulbis: Living like a boss

Ernests Gulbis' physiotherapist Michal Novotny has been posting pictures of the tennis player on his Twitter page. 

Totally love the pictures although Gulbis appears to be scruffy and sloppy. 

In London this week

Earlier last week at Queen's Club

Walking to the gym last week when he was at Queen's

The Latvian will have a tough match in the first round against Tomas Berdych at the Wimbledon next week.

(Images via Michal Novotny's Twitter page)

Players' arrival photos in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur

As a big tennis fan and tennis mamarazzi, nothing beats welcoming my favourite players at the airport with a bunch of flowers :D

Unlike last year, this time I only got to know Rendy Lu Yen-hsun's flight schedule. Rendy arrived together with his mom, brother and his team.

Meanwhile in Bangkok, the organiser sent me some arrival photos of their star players - Juan Martin Del Potro, Ernests Gulbis, Fernando Verdasco and Jurgen Melzer (in sequence).

Yay, Del Potro is back in tournament!

(Images via PTT Thailand Open 2010, HSFoo of HCFoo's Tennis Blog)

Ernests Gulbis ruins Ivo Karlovic's birthday bash, captures maiden title

Ernests Gulbis crashed Ivo Karlovic's 31st birthday bash at the Delray Beach International Championships final on Sunday by defeating the Croation 6-2, 6-3 to win his first ATP title.

“Everything I do it’s the first for my country,” Gulbis said.

Thanks for the birthday gift, Ernie!

The world no.72 will move to a top 40 ranking next week.

Meanwhile, defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan won their 58th career title at the tournament after a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Philipp Marx and Igor Zelenay.

The Bryans are four titles away from surpassing the 61 titles record (most doubles titles in the Open Era) held by Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Swedish Sex Scandal: Pim Pim said Gulbis confessed it was him!

Sheraton Hotel where the 'players' were arrested.

I'm pretty sure that most of you already know about the latest sex scandal in tennis by now - "two foreign tennis players" were suspected to be involved in soliciting prostitutes before the Stockholm Open.

Investigation leader Jonas Trolle said the players were detained as they entered a hotel in Stockholm early Sunday with their escorts.

According to Sweden’s prostitution law, it punishes those who pay for sex but not the prostitutes.

Despite the on-going investigation, the tournament organiser said they wouldn’t stop anyone from competing in the tournament.

C'mon, we all know Ernie doesn't need to pay for sex...

Now, in the latest twist of the story, Joachim "Pim Pim" Johansson wrote in his blog saying that Ernests Gulbis has confessed he was involved!

Monaco fick sent igår kväll reda på att han blivit anklagad i argentinsk press för att han var den skyldige spelaren som köpt sex under helgen trots att Gulbis redan erkänt."

(Translated into English:) "Monaco found out last night that he was accused in the Argentine press of being the player who bought sex during the weekend while Gulbis already acknowledged. He will probably have a difficult time before the match on Wednesday. I'll try to take advantage of it early in the match ..."

(Updates: It seems that Pim Pim has removed this part from his blog post. Perhaps he didn't realised the commotion he had caused by ratted out Gulbis :P)

Although some media pointed their fingers to Simone Bolelli (he withdrew from Stockholm Open due to personal reason) and Juan Monaco as the second person to be involved, source told me otherwise.

Gulbis' accomplice in that scandal COULD BE Deivids Juksa (or David Juksha as he spelt it in his FB), a former Latvian junior player and Gulbis' hitting partner.

Anyway, so far all these are just allegations. Probably more details will be revealed in the next few days.

I'll keep you posted.

(Images by Jerkker Ivarsson and via menstennisforums.com)

Ads: Everyone is worried about cheap longines watches and the recovery of zenith watches, now our company offers you cheap bell & ross watches & thomas sabo jewelry sale, if you buy both, you get one free wedding ring box.

TENNIS WATCH: On coaches, nudity, money & power, retirement & comeback, etc.

Since I'll be away for a couple of days, here's a longer than usual brief tennis news for you to read. Have a good weekend!

• Finally James Blake has stopped working with long time coach Brian Barker after the US Open. He is now coached by Kelly Jones in Beijing. Although lost to Rafael Nadal 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in the second round yesterday, Blake saved a match point to claw back to 5-5 and eventually won the second set.

• Ernests Gulbis seems to improve a lot after getting help from new coach Hernan Gumy. He has won back-to-back ATP matches for the first time this season and advanced to the quarterfinals of Tokyo when Juan Monaco retired at 6-3, 4-1 yesterday.

• Have we forgotten about Mario Ancic? I guess not. The Croatian has not retire from tennis to become a full time lawyer. He is expected to get medical clearance (from mononucleosis) to begin training again. Ancic hopes to return to the tour next January.

• No.1 again next week, Serena Williams, on posing nude for the cover of ESPN The Magazine, "ESPN had a body issue, and they told me I had a great body and wanted me to be on the cover. So I was super flattered, but I wanted to do it classy and not trampy, for lack of a better word. It's tasteful and super cool, and I love it."

• It's not a surprise when AskMen.com poll voted tennis stars Roger Federer (no. 8) and Andy Roddick (no. 35) as among the world's most influential men of the year.

• Andy Murray is the 8th highest-earning sportsman in Britain with an annual income of £7 million, according to The Daily Telegraph.
  

• Still on money, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, like many other sportsmen who resides in Switzerland for tax purposes, will be unable to play in Basel. Tsonga's tax agreement with local Swiss authorities would become invalid if he were to earn money inside Switzerland.

• Justine Henin will make her Grand Slam comeback at the Australian Open, tournament director Craig Tiley confirmed at the official event launch. Henin's first tournment back will probably be Brisbane Open.

• While veteran players are planning a strong comeback, Amelie Mauresmo is considering retiring from tennis. In her website, she said, “Since I came back from the U.S. Open, I’ve been trying to practice but I can’t find again the desire to come back to competition. I don’t want to rush or force things. (I will take) some time to think before making a decision regarding the remainder of my career.”

• Martina Hingis who is now given the green light to return to the tennis circuit after her two-year cocaine ban, chose to return to competition - but in horse riding. She is set to make an appearance in a show jumping contest in Switzerland this week.

• Jelena Dokic's dad, Damir is on a hunger strike to protest his jail sentence for making threats against the Australian ambassador.

• The Spanish tennis federation has narrowed its choice of venue for the Davis Cup final against Czech Republic to Valencia or Barcelona. The final decision to be announced this Saturday.

(Via AP, tennis.com)

TENNIS WATCH: Ernests Gulbis hires Marat Safin's coach

• Latvian press reported that Ernests Gulbis has hired Hernan Gumy as his coach. Looks like Gumy will not be out of job after Marat Safin retires at the end of the season.

• Roger Federer was slapped with a $1,500 fine for using profanity while arguing with a chair umpire during the US Open final. A total of $31,500 is being collected by the season ending grand slam for audible obscenity, including a large portion of $10,500 from Serena Williams.

• Anna Kournikova was reportedly two months pregnant with Enrique Iglesias’ baby after pulled out from the Malibu Triathlon last weekend.

• More endorsement deal for American Melanie Oudin. She has just signed a deal with Air-Tran Airways Limited, which is based in her home state of Georgia.

• Rumours have been circulating that the French Open may be considering a move to Disneyland Paris. However this have been downplayed but not dismissed by French Open tournament director Gilbert Ysern.

• Hot-looking player Nicolas Lapentti could put his retirement on hold if Ecuador wins its Davis Cup tie against Brazil this weekend and secures a place in next year's World Group.

• Kim Clijsters will begin next season at the WTA event in Brisbane a tune-up tournament before the Australian Open.

(Image via bbs.tennis.com.cn)

Rafael Nadal 2 wins away of ending the year as No. 1

Ernests Gulbis did not survive the grueling match against Rafael Nadal.

I was too tired to wait for that 2 a.m. match last night. I'm glad I didn't because the pay TV Astro did not show Rafael Nadal vs Ernest Gulbis match!

Rafael Nadal is just two wins shy of clinching the year-end No. 1 ranking, defeating Ernests Gulbis 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 last night to reach the third round of the Madrid Masters.

Nadal was forced to work his ass off to win in the second round.

Next up for Nadal, the 2005 Madrid champion, will be 15th-ranked Richard Gasquet.

Gasquet overcame 23 aces by Mardy Fish to win 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3.

Back in Wimbledon, Nadal was taken to four sets by Gulbis, and last night's match was similarly tricky for the Spaniard.

Nadal has never been a fan of the Spanish capital’s high altitude and the extra speed it brings to the hard court.

He had a difficult time keeping up with the Latvian before ended the match in 2 hours and 22 minutes.

The Hugo Boss ball girl dropped a ball during the Nadal vs Gulbis match.

In other second-round matches, U.S. Open finalist Andy Murray advanced while 11th-seeded James Blake and 13th-seeded Fernando Verdasco lost.

Murray moved on when Simone Bolelli of Italy retired with an apparent shoulder injury while trailing 6-0, 2-1.

Murray will next play Croatia’s Marin Cilic, who beat Verdasco 6-2, 6-3.

“I’ve been playing really, really well in practice the last few weeks, better than I was playing throughout the summer,” said Murray, who won his first Masters Series title in Cincinnati in August.

“I’m probably mentally fresher now than the U.S. Open.”

(Images via Yahoo! Sport)