I did not think beating Lorenzi would be that hard for him. Break point conversion was awful. Went 0/9 in the first set then got broken the only time he faced a break point in the second set. He finally ended up breaking for the match.really happy for him. His first QF in his comeback.
I can't believe how good he could be with positive momentum. His FH here looks decent on clay, not being erroneous as I would think. He served well and was not too trigger happy. Clutch from him to win that LONG 1st Set TB and recover after losing that 2nd Set.
Gulbis and Lorenzi are polar opposites. Give Lorenzi Gulbis's talent and he would go far
Give Gulbis Lorenzi's grit and he would go far.
Lorenzi is the textbook overachiever. He toiled for many years on the futures and challengers circuits before finally winning an ATP tour match when he was in his mid '20s. He has evolved into a very solid player. Gulbis was winning ATP matches basically from the start and has obviously been up and down ever since.
You are of course right and it's a funny observation. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Gulbis's failures stem from two things, not having a consistent forehand, he does so many radical changes so often. The Seagulll one gave him a top 10 ranking and RG semis, so as a result I think he has the idea that the change on the forehand can be a good thing. But he should have been learned a proper technique at 18 and stuck to it. The one he had back then was inconsistent, but very beautiful and suitable for an aggressive guy like him. it was a bent arm and short back swing. Playing with that could have given him the power to dominate points even more by taking forehands early and finnishing with booming backhands, which would have made him an even better fast surface player.
Much of this is of course Gulbis's own fault and Lorenzi would have been more conservative and smarter in the same position.
The other factor that has derailed the career of Gulbis, who I at times called my favourite player, is of course injuries. He has barely been healthy since his career best performance on the court and his career worst betting decision of putting half his winnings on black in monte carlo.
Gulbis will be fine even though his potential has been squandered a bit, it is people like me who will miss out. We will miss seeing our favourite eccentric Latvian play his best tennis on the biggest of stages. I remember after he beat Berdych 3-0 in the RG semi final that everything felt possible.
I seriously thought he was on the road to a Wawrinka like career, could still be
And all respect to Lorenzi, journeymen like him are the cornerstone's of this sport and admirable in their dedication to this sport as a porffession
It serously looked like he was throwing the match during some of those break points (obviously he wasn't) weak second serve from lorenzi and hed blast it to nowhere
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