Ernests Gulbis: When Will Potential Turn To Consistent Results?

At the beginning of the 2008 Australian Open, I predicted that 38th ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would be an established Top 20 player by the end of the season. After a run to the Australian Open final, he was ranked 20th in the world and playing arguably the best tennis of his career. He finished the year with a career-high No. 6 ranking.

Let's just say I was a little full of myself for a while.

As a self-appointed tennis prophet, I discovered another success story at the next major, the 2008 French Open: A 6-foot-3-inch, big-serving Latvian that consistently blasted the ball past speedy American James Blake.

Commentators continuously gloated about the amount of hip turn Ernests Gulbis put into his serve to get the ball moving with such velocity and spin. I watched, enthralled, as he made a run to the quarterfinals before losing to Serbian Novak Djokovic.

With my then favorite player, Blake, fading quickly, I found myself turning to two foreigners to fulfill my need for powerful, high-risk tennis. Gulbis is definitely on the radar of all the top players, but his temper on the court is limiting his upside.

The big question is whether Gulbis will change his attitude like Roger Federer did or let his court presence and tantrums stand in his way like Tomas Berdych.

Thus far, 2010 has been a tale of two seasons.

A hot start, a title, and an upset of Federer made many, including me, think that he was finally breaking through. Since his triumph over the 16-time Grand Slam champion, Gulbis has a 10-11 record on the tour and has struggled to find the form that propelled him in the year's early months.

A promising fact about Gulbis is he has pushed Rafael Nadal, Robin Soderling, Andy Murray and Federer (twice) to three sets in losses.

A negative statistic, sadly, about Gulbis is his 0-3 record in majors this year.

As he just turned 22 in August, the jury is still out on Gulbis. Currently ranked No. 24, he has set the groundwork for a big run in 2011.

Maybe he should call Tsonga for a tip on how to make a run at a Grand Slam.