Analysis for Stepanek-Gulbis (ATP Tokyo)

Head-to-head record 0:0

Latvian young gun Ernests Gulbis will face Czech veteran Radek Stepanek in Tokyo first round. Gulbis is having the nightmare season this year. He hasn’t advanced past the second round this year which is really poor record for the player of his potential. He 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. Radek Stepanek is a big-hearted player who is said to be not as talented as other top players but his main weapons are his head and enormous fighting spirit. He opened the season in a great style but latest results weren´t convincing and we think he should be just a slight favourite. Anything above 2.5 is good enough for us.