Ernests Gulbis (Latvian pronunciation: [ˈærnests ˈɡulbis], born 30 August 1988) is a Latvian former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 10 by the Association of Tennis Professionals in June 2014, making him the only Latvian men's tennis player to be ranked inside the top 10. Gulbis won six ATP Tour singles titles and two in doubles. His best performance at the majors was reaching the semifinals of the 2014 French Open, as well as the quarterfinals of the 2008 French Open.
Gulbis was coached by Karl Heinz Wetter, and subsequently by Nikola Pilić, the former professional Croatian tennis player and Croatian and German Davis Cup captain. Afterwards, he was coached by Hernán Gumy (who before that was Marat Safin's coach), but their partnership ended due to Gumy's schedule; during that time, Darren Cahill served as Gulbis' consultant for several tournaments. He was then coached by Guillermo Cañas, and after Wimbledon 2011, by Günter Bresnik, until his departure before the 2016 French Open. From September 2022 to August 2025, Gulbis was the president of the Latvian Tennis Union, and during that time ended his career as a professional tennis player.
Gulbis grew up in an upper-class household. His book-collecting parents named him after Ernest Hemingway. His father Ainārs is an investment businessman, and his mother Milēna Gulbe-Kavace is a theater actress. His maternal grandfather Uldis Pūcītis was a popular actor and film director.
The second of five children, Gulbis has three sisters and one brother. His younger half-sister Laura Gulbe is also a tennis player.
Gulbis comes from a sporting family in general, and his paternal grandfather, Alvils Gulbis, was one of the starting five players on ASK Rīga, the Soviet Union basketball team that won the European Championships. He first started playing tennis with his grandmother. Gulbis married Tamara Kopaleyshvili in November 2017, and they are raising a child in Riga, Latvia.
When Gulbis stunned world no. 1 Roger Federer at the 2010 Italian Open after throwing away six match points, he told reporters that "I shit my pants a little bit there...excuse my language" and has bragged about his racquet-throwing "skills" in an on-court interview. On a telecast during the 2010 Western and Southern Financial Group Masters from Cincinnati, broadcasters Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe and Chris Fowler compared Gulbis to former world No. 1 Marat Safin in terms of both playing style and attitude on and off court. Like Safin, Gulbis often comments about his own lack of discipline and/or interest in practising, but is forthcoming about his aspirations for a high ranking.
In 2009, Gulbis was arrested in Sweden for soliciting prostitutes. He called it a "misunderstanding". After paying a fine, he was released in time to play in the Stockholm Open. Speaking about the need for more explosive rivalries in tennis (e. g., Connors-McEnroe), in 2013 he said that Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray were "boring" in interviews. The next year, at the French Open, when Gulbis was asked if he would encourage his sisters to pursue professional tennis, he said he believed that women should "focus on family and kids".
Gulbis speaks Latvian, English, Russian, some French, and German. He is nicknamed "Lord", "The Gull" or "Ernie".
Gulbis began playing tennis at the age of 5 with his grandmother. At the age of 12, he attended the Nikola Pilić tennis academy in Munich and trained there until age 18. One of the players he trained with at the Niki Pilić academy was future world No. 1 Novak Djokovic who sometimes practiced with Gulbis when they were at the academy. He refused to play much junior tennis as he only played in three tournaments winning one in May 2004. He mainly played in men's ITF futures events to start his career and officially turned pro in June 2004 at the age of 15.
2004–2006: ITF and challenger success and St. Petersburg semifinal
Gulbis' first event at any level was a challenger tournament in Germany in June 2004 after receiving a wildcard into the main draw. He lost in the first round to Teymuraz Gabashvili in straight sets. For most of 2004–2006, he solely played ITF futures events while also occasionally playing in challenger events. At first, he struggled to win matches. But his results started to improve as time went on and he won his first futures title in September 2005. After this win, he made four more futures finals in 2006 winning two.
In July 2006, Gulbis made his first challenger final where he lost to Michal Tabara in straight sets. Two weeks later, he made his second challenger final where he lost to top seed Florian Mayer in three sets.
Gulbis received direct entry into the 2006 US Open Qualifying, his first Grand Slam qualifying draw. There, he upset 5th seed Dick Norman in the first round in straight sets before losing in the second round to Michaël Llodra in straight sets.
Gulbis made his ATP debut at the 2006 St. Petersburg Open after receiving a wildcard into the main draw. There, he reached the semifinals where he lost to 3rd seed and eventual champion Mario Ančić in straight sets. Because of his result, his ranking jumped 48 spots from 204 to 156.
Gulbis ended 2006 with his first challenger title without losing a set defeating Philipp Petzschner in the final. He also won two doubles challenger titles within the year both partnering Mischa Zverev and another doubles final partnering compatriot Deniss Pavlovs. He ended the year with a year-end ranking of 141. A remarkable jump from his ranking of 418 at the beginning of the year. His results during the year earned him the award for Rising Star of the Year at the 2006 Latvian Sports Awards.
2007: Breaking into top 100, Grand Slam debut and US Open fourth round
Gulbis started his season as a qualifier in the Sydney Medibank International, losing in the first round to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. He was subsequently defeated in the first qualifying round of the Australian Open.
Gulbis was relatively successful on the Challenger circuit in 2007. He reached the quarterfinals in Bergamo (l. to Fabrice Santoro) and the semifinals in Heilbronn (l. to Michaël Llodra). Gulbis won his second Challenger title by triumphing over the local favorite, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, at the Besançon Challenger in France, enabling him to break into the ATP Top 100 for the first time in his career. In his next tournament, the Sarajevo Challenger, Gulbis emerged victorious in both the singles and doubles events.