Gulbis Ends Season With No-Show

Taking ‘failing to show up’ to a new, literal level, Ernests Gulbis was nowhere to be found for his qualifying match at the Paris Masters. Because he was in Moscow.

From the tournament blog:

Ernests Gulbis was a no-show! Mathieu Rodrigues, ATP 410 who turned 24 today, knocked up with the ball-kids, waited for 15 minutes while the crowd sang “’appy burssday” (with a French accent) and then strolled into the second round. He was an alternate – i.e. he was only here because other higher-ranked players did not sign up for qualifying – and now he is only two sets away from making it into the main draw. Poor show from Gulbis though – a no-show like that won’t enhance his already somewhat flaky reputation. A poor end to a poor season for such a talented young man.

Really well done on that one, Ernie. Although shouldn’t the tournament have some way of checking that players are actually in the country before they call their matches? Such as, I don’t know, some form of register?

Also: does this count as breaking the whereabouts rule?