After taking out Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to his fifth career title in Marseille, the controversial and enigmatic Ernests Gulbis made it clear that he is in no way satisfied with his career at this point. “My long-term goal in tennis isn’t to be top 20,” Gulbis said.  “It’s to be No. 1.”

Since the 25-year-old Gulbis stands currently 12,792  points behind world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, many would be quick to dismiss such a goal as highly unrealistic.  But is Gulbis letting his imagination run wild, or is his goal of ascending to the top of the rankings something that could eventually happen?

To answer this question, it’s important to realize that Gulbis may just be beginning to enter his prime. With his victory in Marseille, Gulbis is now at a career high of world No. 18, and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. With an unsubstantial amount of points to defend at the remaining three majors this year, Gulbis appears ready to continue his push up the rankings. Thus, a top-10 year-end ranking is certainly a possibility for the Latvian.

So what? If Gulbis reaches the top 10, he still is faced with the task of usurping Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Stanislas Wawrinka, and company. While this may be a virtually implausible mission now, the degree of difficulty of beating these players should steadily decrease in the next couple of years. When the French Open rolls around this year, Federer will be 32, Wawrinka will be 29, Nadal will be 28, and Djokovic and Murray will both be 27.  As we all know, nobody can escape time—except maybe Kimiko-Date Krumm.

Names like Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov, Kei Nishikori, and Jerzy Janowicz are usually thrown into the mix when discussing who will replace the current stronghold of ATP stars. Interestingly enough, Gulbis is currently ranked higher than Dimitrov, Nishikori, and Janowicz and as far as age goes, Gulbis is within three years of all of these players. If these players are in the conversation, it would seem quite unfair to exclude Ernests Gulbis.

Also working to the Latvian’s advantage is the increasing amount of successes older players are having on tour. Look no further than Stanislas Wawrinka. At 28, Wawrinka just won his first Grand Slam title and is now ranked at a career high of No. 3 in the world. Gulbis may not achieve Grand Slam glory this year or the next, but is not entirely far-fetched to envision a player with such talent winning a Grand Slam in the future.

Gulbis’s playing style also may end up facilitating longevity in his career. Known for his titanic all-around game, Gulbis prefers to control the action with his big serve and big groundstrokes. In the long run, he’ll be playing shorter points and ostensibly relying more on his shot-making abilities than his physical fitness.

If the trajectory of Gulbis’s career starts to resemble that of Gael Monfils and is composed of endless peaks and troughs, it’ll likely be because of what’s going on inside his head. When a player is as talented as Gulbis, expectations are high. When a player fails to meet these expectations and lose matches that he expects himself to win, tempers flare and emotions ride high.

It’s more than clear that Gulbis is passionate, unintimidated, and believes in his skills—which he should. But when a player expects himself to win every match and then beats himself up when he doesn’t, the continuous streams of self-inflicted pressure gradually creates harmful negativity.

Just ask Rafael Nadal: humility is a crucial trait to have as a professional athlete. Allowing yourself to be humbled makes moving on from each defeat much easier. Losing happens, and if Gulbis is able to accept defeat as a part of the learning process, he’ll be doing himself a big favor in the long run.

“World No. 1 Ernests Gulbis” doesn’t quite roll smoothly off the tongue, but never say never will always be his motto.  Despite the fact that many will call Gulbis crazy for even thinking he has a shot of being the world No. 1, he doesn’t care one bit.