A place in the Barcelona Open qualies has opened up for Ernests Gulbis after the withdrawal of Jerzy Janowicz. The qualies of the Barcelona event are set to take place this weekend. Former world number 10 Gulbis hasn't played a match since losing his Miami Open qualies first-round clash to Sergiy Stakhovsky. Gulbis has yet to play in the main draw of a tennis event this year, having featured in qualies for three tournaments -- making it past none.

Gulbis is no stranger in Barcelona

Latvian tennis player Ernests Gulbis is not a stranger at the Barcelona Open.

Gulbis has participated eight times in the main draw of Barcelona, and has been a regular at the tournament since 2012. He has had success in Barcelona, having reached the quarter-final in 2010 and the semi-final in 2014. Back in 2014, he was close to potentially making it all the way -- but eventual champion Kei Nishikori of Japan stopped him in the last-four stage. In his last attempt in Barcelona last year, he lost in the first-round to Marton Fucsovics.

Never played the qualies of Barcelona

Ernests Gulbis has never had to play the qualies of the Barcelona Open in order to secure a main draw spot. Should he come to play the qualies over the weekend, that would be the first time ever to see him play that part of the tournament.

It remains to be seen as far as what Gulbis will decide to do.

Gulbis was once a star

Ernests Gulbis is a former world number 10, the rankings he achieved during the 2014 tennis season. 28-year-old Gulbis is a holder of six ATP titles in singles, winning his last one in Nice in the spring of 2014. In the same year he achieved his career-best result at a Grand Slam event, reaching the French Open semi-final.

At the moment, Gulbis is ranked at number 173 on the ATP Rankings list. Gulbis had a good 2014 season but hasn't done much since. With 28 years on his back, he still has time to add more achievements to his name.

Jerzy Janowicz hoping to relish his career

Polish tennis player Jerzy Janowicz made it to number 14 in the world on the ATP list in 2013.

Janowicz reached the Wimbledon last-four stage the same year before falling to eventual champion Andy Murray. The Pole has failed to improve since that time, but has had problems with injuries.

Janowicz had an injury-plagued 2016 season, which saw him play only a couple of tournaments. It resulted in him falling to number 282 on the rankings list at one point in 2016. So far in 2017, he has been playing regularly until this month, as he has yet to play in a tournament. However, his rankings have improved to number 165 in the world. Presumably, he's dealing with some health issues, and that's the reason for him not being active since late March at the Guadalajara Challenger.
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