Jack Sock Victorious in First ATP Tour Match Of 2021

In his first ATP Tour level match of 2021 Tuesday, Jack Sock was victorious with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Alex Bolt at the Hall Of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island.

American Jack Sock served seven aces in route to a 3-set victory in the first round on the grass courts of Newport, Rhode Island on Tuesday. This was Sock’s first ATP Tour level match, that was not a major, since February of 2020 in Delray Beach. Sock has been playing some events on the ATP Challenger Tour this year, but received a late wildcard entry into the Hall Of Fame Open in Newport.

Despite some negative noise surrounding Sock’s future in tennis, in the interview after his win he said “I still play, I love it.” Many forget that in 2017, Sock reached a career-high ranking of No. 8 in the world. The run included a semi-final berth in Indian Wells, a title at the Master’s event in Paris, and a semi-final appearance at the year-end championships in London. Sock has dealt with multiple injuries including one in 2019 where he injured two ligaments in his thumb in practice. He played some matches in late 2019 but had minimal to no success.

If Sock can stay healthy and get the body right he still has the ability to be a top-25 player on the ATP Tour. His serve and forehand combination is one of the very best. Hopefully, the American can continue to go deep in tour events and get his ranking back up. It will be tough to go deep in the big tournaments with his current ranking at World No. 231. He will have to rely on wildcards and winning on the Challenger circuit for the time being. He will have a good chance of getting a wildcard into the US Open in late August, as he received one there in 2020. Sock is slated to play Yoshihito Nishioka, the No. 3 seed in the tournament in Newport, in the round of 16 tomorrow.