American ‘socks’ another: Jack Sock shocks with London win over wunderkid Zverev
‘Showtime’ Jack Sock has done it again! Making the most of his ATP Finals debut, the American gets another stunning win, this time over world No. 3 ‘Sascha’ Zverev, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
Jack Sock said he was “playing with house money” going into the ATP World Tour Finals, and boy is he making the most of his opportunity. First there was the win over Marin Cilic, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(4), and now he sent a bigger shockwave at the O2 Arena in London, defeating Alexander Zverev, the world No. 3 and 20-year-old touted successor to Roger Federer’s and Rafael Nadal’s generation.
Sock, a gifted American who has struggled to match mental strength to go along with his physical gifts, has been demonstrating confidence all week long. Sure, he lost his first-round match against Federer, but right now no one’s beating him. The win over Cilic could have been chalked up to the Croat weakening under pressure, perhaps. But like Sock showed in that match, he brought a nervy amount of fantastic shot-making to justify his presence in both the Cilic and the Zverev wins.
Zverev, the current darling of tennis, winner of two Masters 1000 tournaments where he defeated greats Novak Djokovic in Rome and Federer in Montreal, was expected to clock in a second win at the London ATP event, but the match between him and Sock deviated from the script right from the start, with the American winning the first set 6-4 with a sneaky crosscourt drop shot.
The German broke back in the second set and demonstrated the skill that’s earned him a spot right behind Nadal and Federer on the ATP leaderboard, but surprisingly wilted in the final set, committing double faults and unforced errors out of character with the beautiful display he showed against Federer the other day (still lost the match, that’s how good Fed was).
No one expected Sock to make it to London. Ranked 22nd a few weeks ago, right behind the other American player in the Top 20, John Isner, who he’s always trailed behind, Sock qualified for the London Finals at the very last minute, propelling to No. 9 with the win in Paris. He said he would “hit hard” once he found out he was going and that’s what he’s done the entire tournament. He hasn’t shown the nerves that have hampered him in past events and has discovered a newfound confidence.
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But the win over Zverev was also messy at times, showing his temper when the 20-year-old broke him, and receiving penalty points after hitting a ball into the crowd to vent his frustration. Still, Sock managed to steel his nerves and focused to take advantage of a mistake-ridden Zverev in the third.
“Then to come here, sneak in the last spot,” Sock said before the tournament. “I’m going to have fun, play big, play free. . . That’s definitely not going to change. No one expected me to be here in the first place.”
The momentum is with Sock as he sets his sights on Grigor Dmitrov, the only other undefeated player at the ATP Finals besides Federer.
The lowest ranked, a last-minute addition, and perhaps thought of as the least likely to progress through the tournament, the 25-year-old Sock is keeping American hope alive and defying all expectations.