The tough comeback of Jack Sock forces him to think on the future
It was a snowboarding accident in February that Jack Sock suffered a thumb injury. Surgery was needed and his prognosis was supposed to be a return in a few months. In reality, it was six months and he admitted that 'it was the biggest blessing in disguise.' Sock had time to think not only of his past which last year in 2018 partly was a disaster to his singles game, but his future. He saw himself go from being ranked in the top 10 down to the 100s. But in helping out Mike Bryan when his brother/partner Bob, underwent hip surgery, they captured two titles: Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Sock had a renewal of assurance that his doubles game was stinging and victorious but his focus is on his singles level that had become less proficient than last year.
In the Australian Open this year, Sock played the opener against a wild card Alex Bolt and lost in four difficult sets. He did play doubles and went through the third round partnering with Jackson Withrow. They lost in three sets to the team of Ryan Harrison and Sam Querrey. Sock's first tournament back was at the BB&T Atlanta Open. "I love coming here with the fans, the well-run tournament and I have relatives from my dad's side of the family that live in Alpharetta," he'd said excitingly at the Atlanta Open last year. This is why he chose this tournament to make his comeback this time, but it was quite a bittersweet result.
Sock came in as a wild card entry at Atlanta, playing opposite Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic whose win of two Challenger titles and a few quarterfinals and a semifinal this year on the ATP tour helped promote his confidence. Jack Sock fought in the match with two tiebreaking sets, but couldn't close out and win either. The doubles area Sock again partnered with Withrow making it through the semifinals, losing 6-7, 3-6 to the team of Dominic Inglot and Austin Krajicek.
Despite the comeback after six months, Jack Sock still seems to do better in doubles than singles. He's still working on the recipe to bring his singles game to a boil like it used to be. The condition of his injured thumb is still fine, but he admits that it is stiff and may be that way up to another year. He says "I'm excited to play again, which I haven't been able to say that in a long time...I'm just going to go be happy on the court and enjoy playing..." Sock had told the tennis.com media. but he still has thoughts on what if his singles game can't be perfected as before the accident? Will he just go with playing doubles? On Jon Wertheim's expose on Sock, he cites the NY Times article as puzzling and disheartened with Sock saying "If I'm not relevant in the singles world and my only choice is to play doubles, I'd probably stop playing tennis."
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2K7Tjcl
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