Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Nebraska Native Looking to Make Impact at U.S. Open Tennis

ATPworldtour.com

American star Serena Williams hopes to complete the Grand Slam of tennis at the U.S. Open next week in Flushing Meadow, New York.  She’s armed with victories this year at Wimbledon, the French Open and the Australian Open. But men’s tennis, on the other hand, has been dominated by players outside America.  There’s a Lincoln native who’d like to do something about that.

Jack Sock lived in Lincoln until his family moved to the Kansas City area when Sock was in fifth grade.  But his tennis game is heavily influenced by another Nebraska native, Andy Roddick. Sock is trying to achieve what no American male has accomplished since Roddick did it in 2003: Win the U.S. Open. 

It’d be a major upset if Sock were to reach the championship, but at the age of 22 he’s on an upward climb.  Sock is ranked 28th in the world, his best to date and seeded at the Open for the first time, also at No. 28. But none of that seems to faze him.

“Honestly I just want to go and I just want to play my style of tennis and the things I’ve been working on over the last few weeks to get ready.  Pretty much the whole summer to get ready for the mecca. The Open.”

The U.S. Open is where Jack Sock’s career took off five years ago while in high school.  Sock won the U.S. Open junior title.  The year after winning it, Sock played against Roddick at the U.S. Open. Although he didn’t win, Sock recalls how it felt to be facing his idol, center court, at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I thought I could do all right.  Maybe I didn’t fully believe I could necessarily win, but it was my first time on Arthur Ashe (court),” said Sock.  “To play on the biggest court we have in tennis at the U.S. Open, our home Slam, against a guy I grew up watching was pretty special. Friday night under the lights on ESPN, so that was definitely a memory I’ll never forget.”

Jack’s older brother, Eric, played tennis for the Huskers and now teaches the game in the Kansas City area.  He also remembers how inspiring Roddick was to him and his brother Jack.

“If this guy could be from Nebraska, from the Midwest, when people were saying you had to be from California, Texas and Florida, then why couldn’t we do it?” asked Eric Sock.

In Jack Sock’s third tournament of the year last April in Houston, with his family on hand, he won his first professional singles title.  He looked forward to that evening’s celebration.

“You know I have my brother here and my team with me for awhile now through the ups and the downs.  To share a moment like this is going to be great,” said Sock after the tournament championship.

At the U.S. Open, Jack Sock knows that tennis fans long for those days of perennial American contenders. “Seems like there’s always been someone that’s done it,” said Sock.

Could Sock be that someone to break through one day?  The only American ranked ahead of him is John Isner, but he’s 30 and his window of opportunity is closing.

Tennis writer Nick McCarvel knows that Sock has his work cut out to knock off one those considered in the Big Four of men’s tennis: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal.  But McCarvel believes in Sock’s potential.

“The window of opportunity is certainly there,” said McCarvel.  “At this point, though, you don’t see Djokovic slowing down.  Andy Murray is as motivated as ever.  Sure, I think both Roger (Federer) and Rafa (Nadal) have shown cracks in their game.  But they look as motivated as ever, too.”

Sock says he’s motivated, and he’d like to stick around for the second week of the Open.  To do that though, he’ll need to beat the best in the world.

Wait a minute.  He is one of the best in the world.