Analysis for Nadal-Gulbis (ATP Wimbledon)

Head-to-head record 0:0

What an interesting match-up in the second round at Wimbledon. Defending finalist will face a tough hurdle on his way to the final. Latvian young gun Ernst Gulbis has improved a lot recently and we were really impressed by his latest performances. Gulbis primarily employs an offensive baseline playing style, although is fairly comfortable playing from all court positions. Gulbis' most consistent shot is his forehand, which has been likened to that of American James Blake's for its rapid pace and relatively flat execution. His forehand is taken with a medium swing and with high levels of wrist action, which attributes to the explosive nature of the shot. His arsenal of forehand shots is nearly complete, and thus can be extremely disruptive and turn a defensive position into an offensive position. His running forehand has a slice action, but consistently lands extremely deep in the court, allowing for adequate recoil time to regain court position. Gulbis also has a particularly excellent array of finesse shots, including the high lob and drop shot, both of which he can strike from any position. Gulbis' primary weakness is his backhand, which while remaining adequately deep tends to lack variety, unless a particularly advantageous situation presents itself. Gulbis' foot speed and serve are also only moderate (but have improved significantly), although his return of serve is extremely varied and dangerous, particularly on second serves and, due to his height and kick serves. Despite having prodigious talent for his age, Gulbis can be prone to nervousness when down in a set or match, which can cause tight matches to be more mentally straining on him. Similarly to Marat Safin, Gulbis' playing style is extremely tactical and aggressive, and relies more on making winners than drawing errors, which can sometimes lead to a very high unforced error count. We have already written a lot about his Spanish opponent and you probably know that we still don’t consider him to be able to win the Wimbledon crown. He had a tough time against below-average Beck in the first round and will need to improve significantly in the second round. We think it will be all about Gulbis´ nerves but if he stays calm and concentrated, he should be able to keep the match close and we will support him at this ridiculous price.