It is quite a sight at which to marvel, a rare event, but when it occurs, the tennis Gods be proud: the sight of Ernst Gulbis hitting the high notes and handling the low ones, too.
For Andy Murray, it was a sight his season could very much have lived without. The Scotsman is about as close on the journey to number One as he might get, holding as he does two Majors, a runner-up placing in Melbourne and the prestigious Miami title. The sight of Gulbis in his draw as early as the third round of a Masters would have made his heart sink a little. And the sight of the Latvian winding up for the forehand, his non-playing arm sweeping round, the hand outstretched, fingers wide apart, would have made his heart plummet into the Ocean bed.
But while the spectacle of the Gulbis forehand being struck, the weapon fired and finding its mark, gleaning winners or setting them up, would have been one to make Murray’s eyes sore, it is one that causes the spectator’s eyes to widen and smile; the imagination ignited at a shot that must be exhilarating to hit, and truly frightening to be beholden to.
And beholden Murray was, his own weapons curiously absent. While Gulbis busied himself pushing Murray around with his forehand, Murray took to pushing the ball into play. Gulbis did not miss a beat in the first set, bossing the ball with the authority of a world number one and now and then stroking it with the fine touch one would use to brush one’s fingers over the head of a crystal corgi. Nowhere was this better done than at 5-4 returning. The Latvian reached break point with, after crushing the ball for several shots, winning the rally with a sublime drop shot at which Murray must have been sick with envy. The set was sealed with a crushing return that a weak Murray second serve deserved only in its ferocity and not in its beauty.
It is not uncommon for Gulbis to show up for the first set of a match like this and then go AWOL in the second. So, it was encouraging for those who wish to see his talent fulfilled when he broke at 1-2 in the second. Perhaps this would be the win that would define his season at worst or kick start the surge up the rankings and into the business end of Majors that we have all craved for him. But Murray, down a set and a break, dug his heels in and, unperturbed by his lack of firepower on the day, went back to what he does best: defending. The Scot retrieved balls that, were it not for the ‘speed’ of the court, would have been dead on arrival once upon a time, and broke back. This is what the Scot excels at: getting back into matches he has no business being in and then exploding into them, stealing them from beneath the executioner’s nose, his head well away from the block, the ax now in his hands.
All Murray needed now was the attack of nerves, the collapse of serve upon which he has feasted on his journeys to many a trophy. But Gulbis was not interested in pandering to Murray’s favorite play. He had some making up to do. Chances have slipped out of his hands this year, no less notably than against Nadal in Monte Carlo, and he was not going to see another one slip from his talented hands and shatter on the court. He held his nerve and his serve and, at 4-3 returning, played the big points so cleanly you could have eaten off the court. A winning volley got him the break for 5-3 and the chance to serve for the match. At 30-30, Gulbis hit a service winner out wide for match point. The Latvian could not have been more clutch. An ace down the tee and a significant win was his.
Gulbis has had big wins before, his 2012 defeat of Berdych in the first round of Wimbledon was as big a performance on Grass as you could wish to see, only to have small returns in the next round. A loss in the next round would be no surprise but a win would be most welcome. The sight of Gulbis tempering his risky all out aggression with such fine feel are a sight one could never bore off in a game prevalent with grinders. Should Gulbis decide to screw his head on more often, tennis might see a game that defies surfaces and legs that never tire, a game that sets the imagination very much on fire.
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