Day 4: Round 2: Gulbis vs. del Potro. Gulbis lost, 6-4, 6-3. As a fan, this is a very deflating day and it's hard to post without getting into a rant. But I shall try to be cool and objective. But sheesh, Ernie didn't even get to play his beautiful tennis today. Only a few moments here and there that we had glimpses of it. Well, we all know that tennis is as much about the other guy as the one you're rooting for. So credit to del Potro (whose game I can't stand to watch) for being tough, consistent, and most of all, effective. This was really a match between a man and a boy.

I sat in one of the box seats just behind the baseline and so had a very good vantage point on the match. From here, you can see the players up close when they towel off, get the balls, and collect themselves. You can see their facial expressions, too, clear as daylight, and sense their moods. You hear them mutter to themselves. None of these you get on tv because their backs are turned to the camera. So what did I see? Well, let me start with the good stuff.

• Ernie's backhand. What a beautiful solid shot it is. He drives it with topspin but also slices it and is very impressive with both. He can create extreme angles with it to the opponent's backhand. It is also pretty accurate. He doesn't make as many errors with it as with his forehand. I like it more than his forehand because it is a very reliable shot.
• His serve. Besides it going at you at 100000 mph, he can also put a lot of spin on it so that the direction of the ball curves before it lands. Just awesome.
• Speed of his forehand shot. Sometimes he literally smacks the ball where there's no backswing to speak of or any kind of stroking. Just plain slaps it. And it goes so fast it's a blur when it lands. We all know this but I just have to say it because it is unreal to watch.

And now for the not-so-good stuff. When I say this was a match between a man and a boy, it's because of the difference in the composure of the two players. After Ernie lost the first set, he went through a number of negative emotions. He got impatient and irritated with the ball boys. He got sulky, making swatting gestures with his hands as if to say "scrap that" or "to hell with that". He became destructive, purposely destroying his racquet. On the contrary, del Potro was in control of his emotions. Sure, he got upset with himself a few times but mostly he looked determined and businesslike. There was not a sense of him unraveling. And so his game did not unravel, either. Before the match started, Ernie's body language was very positive. He looked relaxed and confident. But after he got broken in his very first service game, all the positive body language disappeared. And his game just got more and more ragged and less and less consistent. How could it have been otherwise? His mind was already muddled by his emotions. He could not control his game anymore. All that raw talent going the way of one unforced error after another. Now if Erno were a fighter, he could get irritable and sulky and destructive as much as he'd like because no matter what, you know he would fight till he dropped. But he's not that type of a player. He's not a fighter like Nadal or scrappy like Stepanek. He is more of an artist on the court (nobody comes to mind for comparison). An artist cannot show his full artistry when someone's messing with his act, right? I cannot quite explain this yet but this is my impression. So. I still hold to my views expressed in yesterday's post that his temperament is a little too delicate when subjected to pressure. The pressure today was del Potro's consistency, imo. Two 20 year-olds but what a difference in maturity. Maybe it's time for Ainars to pack his bags and go home. Let Ernie travel on his own. Be his own man.

Ernie's match did not start till 1:00 so I had time to check out Kuni's match against Petzschner in one of the smaller courts. It was the first set and Kuni was losing. Petzschner looked very sharp against Kuni. I was feeling pretty neutral about the match, just went there to kill time really. At the start of the second set, in walks her royal prettiness Ms. Vika. She sat directly opposite the players' chairs, in the front row bench. Her presence there got me curious. First thought was: she probably can't find anything to do when she's not playing that she ends up hanging around the club and watching more tennis. Then I saw that she was cheering Kuni on. So I got it. Vika cheers Erno. Erno cheers Vika. Erno cheers Kuni. So Vika cheers Kuni. They're pretty regionalistic, aren't they? So when Vika went "Davai! Davai! C'mon!" and clapping loudly, heck, I started cheering too. What's a fan to do? I cheer Erno. Erno cheers Kuni...well, it's all interconnected. Fanlove works in mysterious ways. And the cheering worked! Kuni started making his shots and drawing Petzs into making those defensive lobs that he could then put away, and the more he did that, the more the crowd got into his game. And they started cheering for him too. I left before the match was finished but I found out later that he won. And to think that I consider Petzs a more talented player than Kuni. Echo of another match, anyone?