Jack Sock crouched on the court and stayed in that pose for several seconds after winning match point. On the surface, it was a routine, first-round, 6-0, 7-6, 6-2 U.S. Open victory for Sock over 113th-ranked Argentine Guido Andreozzi.
But it was a lot more for the 25-year-old Nebraskan, who reeled off the match’s first eight games. As he sat in his chair, Sock gave a shoulder-shake shimmy as looked up at his box on Court 17.
Sock had just won his first match in three months in snapping a seven-match losing streak. He entered the Open 5-15 in 2018, looking very much like another American hopeful gone bust.
“I just looked over at my team and I was signaling I was getting the monkey off your back,” Sock said afterward. “I felt like King Kong was on my back there for a while. It was nice to just get it off. Now I can play free.”
Sock has become the poster child for the disappointment that engulfs American men’s tennis. Four USTA developmental coaches, including general manager Martin Blackman, met with the media Monday morning before the first Open ball was struck for a debriefing on the state of American men’s tennis.
While overjoyed with the American women (all four 2017 Open semifinalists were U.S.-bred), the USTA staff expressed a mixture of frustration and hope for the men. Sock’s name never came up.
Blackman said the USTA is eight years into its project and pointed to certain metrics that suggest men’s tennis is turning around.
“There’s always a sense of urgency on the men’s side,” Blackman said. “Obviously we have a long way to go. We got to get better athletes into the sport at a young age — 7, 8 — before they choose another sport.”
According to Blackman, the U.S. leads the world in four of seven important metrics, including most men’s players in the top 100 and most 23-and-under men in the top 300. He listed Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz (who rallied from two sets down to win a five-set marathon Monday with Mischa Zverev), Jared Donaldson, Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul as prospects with the most promise.
Blackman said in a few years, he could have five players “for sure” in the top 10. But at this year’s U.S. Open, it’s No. 11 seed John Isner or bust.
Even Isner, proud to still be the top American after all these years and donning his University of Georgia ballcap, pointed out it’s not good enough.
On opening day at the Open, the 6-foot-10 Isner, reborn at age 33, jackhammered fellow American Bradley Kahn 7-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round on the Grandstand court and has a puncher’s chance of doing something here after his Wimbledon semifinal berth. No American man has made the Open semifinals since 2006.
“The men haven’t caught up to the women,” Isner said. “We are certainly a little bit behind them. That being said, we have a lot of players in the top 100, but that’s not quite good enough. We want to get a player — and players — deep into an event like this.”
Kathy Rinaldi, the Fed Cup captain, said the Serena/Venus Williams dominance “inspired so many” and offered role models the men don’t have.
“We got to keep fishing,” USTA men’s coach Jose Higuera said. “We don’t get the athletes or participation on the men’s side as women’s side.”
The big-serving Sock, meanwhile, doesn’t think he’s an afterthought. His compatriot, Sam Querrey, another American hopeful on the downswing after making the 2017 Open quarterfinals, retired in the fourth set Monday against Andreas Seppi despite leading two sets to one.
“It’s already been a long year, but I know the level of tennis I can play,” said Sock, still one of the game’s best doubles players. “It hasn’t shown in every match this year. One week it’s going to turn and I’m glad it started here. Hopefully I can keep it going.’’
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