The young man Gulbis is 38. He was world number 10, in June 2014. Since he stopped playing, he has run a tennis academy in Latvia. And here he is back on the tour, as one of Aleksandr Shevchenko’s coaches.
On Wednesday in Stockholm, his player, who came through qualifying, beat Casper Ruud, second seed and defending champion, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3. Two hours and seventeen minutes. The boy said: “It’s certainly one of the biggest wins of my career.” One understands.
Mr Gulbis lost the final of that same tournament in 2018, to Tsitsipas, 6-4, 6-4. This time, it’s a boy he coaches who wins in Stockholm. My husband, God rest him, did the same with the village fête: thirty years losing at the rifle range, then he ran the stall. He said you could see better from behind.
Shevchenko had prepared for the US Open at Mr Gulbis’s academy, in Riga. I’m told the length and terms of their arrangement have yet to be clarified. Where we come from, you shook hands and it was clarified. Terms are for people with lawyers.
It’s true, we checked: Tennis Actu.
