Ernests Gulbis is no longer working with his coach, Gunter Bresnik, citing the difficulties of sharing a coach with another player.
The veteran Austrian coach has been working with Gulbis and Dominic Thiem for several years, though Gulbis stopped working with Bresnik temporarily for a few months about a year ago.
The 27-year-old from Latvia says he needs a full commitment at this point in his career.
"My character is a way that, I understand if sometimes I need to be in the second place or even third place in somebody’s interests—OK, but not for half a year or one year," he told *The New York Times*. "And not when I’m 27 years old ... I want my physio to be with me 100 percent, my coach to be with me 100 percent."
While the 22-year-old Thiem has been rising steadily, now just below the Top 10, Gulbis—a former Top 10 player himself—has dropped to No. 80.
Getting to the top of the game and competing with the big names has been difficult for most of the tour’s pros, Gulbis suggested, because established champions like Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have built up an advantage.
"I think that these guys who are on the top, they’ve reached it, and they’re doing a lot of things right,” he said. “They’re doing a lot of things right, and they have the ability to do them right. They have the money to back it up, because everything has costs; physio costs, massage-guy costs, coach costs.”
Having a big group behind them helps top players keep their motivation and bounce back from dips, he added.
"It’s a big thing to have two or three tennis coaches," the former French Open semifinalist said.
As a player who has swung from the upper ranks to below the Top 100 more than once, he is keenly aware of the contrasting experiences of the big names and the lesser-know ones.
"It’s such a different world when you’re playing well, when everybody wants you in their tournaments, when everybody puts you on the good courts," he told *Sport 360*.
While top players get extra time on practice courts and can train with a coach, lower-ranked players frequently share court time or, as Gulbis says, "have to beg for practice courts to get a court alone for one hour any time during the day."
"And then you see seeded players who are there for two hours alone with a coach,” Gulbis added. “How can you compete? I don’t know how the system works. Are we living in a democracy where everybody is the same, or how does it work? ... I’m playing qualies [now]. There’s no chance someone will give me a wild card, so I see a little bit."
Gulbis has not named a new coach.