Top 20 breakthroughs in professional tennis circuit this year: Part Eight – Tennis Special
8. Jack Sock (the United States of America)
Another American tennis prodigy comes in my list of the top breakthroughs in the professional tennis circuit this season. This episode of the series will present to you the very talented and technically sound player, Jack Sock,
who has really impressed me persistently.
The 20-year-old right-hander stepped into the pro circuit last year and rose to the world number 209th spot this summer. He didn’t play much tennis on the ATP World Tour but his technical superiority has impressed a
number of tennis critics. The American youngster is 6ft 1in tall and such height increases his reach immensely. Sock uses his thudding serve as his primary weapon of destruction and possesses a solid baseline defence, making him a complete package on the tennis
courts.
Sock began the 2012 ATP season from the Future tournaments as the 380th ranked contestant, exhibiting phenomenal performances and bagging a trophy as well. His transition to the more competitive ATP World Tour didn’t
bring him any immediate success. His dismal performances in San Jose, Memphis, Delray Beach and the Indian Wells Masters events didn’t brought any fame to his name. The American teenager finally registered his first victory on the Tour in the opening round
of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at Newport, beating the superior-ranked Russian opponent, Igor Kunitsyn, in a stiff three-setter. He lost his next round match to Izak Van der Merwe in straight sets.
The 20-year-old capitalized on the impetus he built up in Newport and registered an upset victory against the then 51st ranked Russian, Alex Bogomolov, in the opening round of BB&T Atlanta Open in Atlanta. Sock went
on to beat his fellow compatriot, Steve Johnson, in the second round to earn a place in his first quarter-final of the season. Unfortunately, he lost to the American number one, John Isner, after a 6-7(7), 4-6 thriller in the round of eight.
Sock’s form literally died out in the following tournaments and he either had to fail to qualify for the main draw or suffer an early round exit from most of the tournaments on the ATP World Tour. His biggest breakthrough so far
came at the US Open Grand Slam championships, where he went all the way to the third round of the mega event. Although he received a retirement victory over Florian Mayer in the opening round, he disposed of Flavio Cipolla from Italy to reach the round of
32 in New York. Sock had a gruelling battle with the then world number 12, Nicolas Almagro, eventually losing at 6-7(3), 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 1-6. He couldn’t go past the third round of the US Open but his contest with Almagro clearly hinted the abilities of the
American teenager.
His rankings swelled to world number 207 after his US Open campaign but an opening round exit from Sacramento Challenger pushed him to the 220th spot in the ATP men’s rankings list. The future looks very bright for this
young man and he might break into the Top-50 professionals in the coming season.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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