Jack Sock, can he be the Great American Hope?

[TennisCJC]

OK, he has a crazy FH with lots of moving bits but he kills the shot. He is posting good results this year and playing top guys close.

Can he make top 10?

Dare I even ask, can he win a slam 2 or 3 years down the road?

I think he is the best US prospect. He has to keep his head on straight, remain healthy and work that BH into something decent, but I certainly see at least a few years in the top 10 for him. I would even give him an outside shot at a slam.

I also hope he keeps playing doubles. Tall guys with power serves and baseline games really should know how to clean up points at the net and doubles is the best way to learn this. Even Djokovic would be a smidge better if he was better closing out points at the net.

He doesn't serve as big as Raonic but he is more athletic and moves better. His ground game is probably better than Raonic's right now.

 

[beast of mallorca]

He's one of the best one we've got, at least one of my favorites in our roster,
Him and Smyczek. As the Great American Hope ? Not sure about that

 

[TennisCJC]

Do you think he can be top 10?

Slam?

 

[Charlemagne]

There already is one, Serena Williams.

 

[tacou]

He certainly could be top 10 at some point, and I think within a year or two will be a top 20-25 fixture.

I don't see him winning a slam, bu I really don't see any of the younger generation(s) winning slams. Sock is right there with all of them in terms of talent so, sure. From, say, 2017 onward I think he'll be able to make some second week runs.

And remember, he already has two grand slam doubles titles.

 

[JanowiczJ]

A - Can he make top 10?

B - Dare I even ask, can he win a slam 2 or 3 years down the road?

A - Yes. I doubt he'll becme a perennial top10, tho.

B - Nope. No. Not even Wimbledon, even tho he's go a big serve + a powerful forehand.

 

[citybert]

His footwork is not that of a top 10 player.

Like others said. He could get there on firepower alone but perrenial top 10 is a stretch

 

[snowpuppy]

There already is one, Serena Williams.

You are joking now, but it is worrisome the day for US women's tennis once she decides to hang up the racquets.

 

[RF-18]

No. Another flashy player who lacks the important things to become champion.

The new Sam Querrey.

 

[captainbryce]

No. Another flashy player who lacks the important things to become champion.

The new Sam Querrey.

Okay, there may be SOME validity to your first statement. But do you honestly see him as another "Sam Querrey"? With all due respect to Querrey, he's not really that talented of a player in my opinion. He has a huge serve and a good forehand, and that's about it. His court coverage is minimal, his court positioning is laughable, and he has no defensive game to speak of!

Sock, contrary to what another poster previously stated, has excellent footwork, and amazing foot speed. He can run around his backhand faster than probably any other player (he's at least in Federer and Nadal's league). In particular, he moves better than most of the American's do on clay (which is refreshing). His serve is not quite as good as Querrey, but it's definitely above average for the tour. His return is MUCH better than any of the other Americans (Isner and Querrey are terrible). He's obviously a much better volleyer having won two grand slam doubles titles. And Sock has a lot more variety from the baseline with the drop shots and change ups.

Other than lack of experience (and questionable shot selection at times), Sock's most glaring weakness is his backhand. In this sense, he isn't too different from any of the other Americans in the last 20 years! In fact, other than Agassi, Blake, and Fish, pretty much every American player that's been in the top 50 has a very weak backhand side. It's almost like American coaches just stopped teaching this stroke altogether. And the majority of American players (including Sock) have pretty much copied the standard, Jim Courier, serve - forehand combination style play. Fortunately, Sock is still young enough that with the right coach he could develop that side a little more. He's only 22 years old!

To me, Sock (right now) would be more comparable to James Blake -- a talented player who remained an underachiever throughout his career because he never learned proper tennis strategy, employed a go-for-broke, flashy, high risk style, and could never take full advantage of all of his skills. Hopefully, Sock's coach can do more with him than Blake's coach could do with Blake.

Having said that, and getting back to the original question: do I think Sock will win a singles grand slam title? NO! But he could certainly become a solid, consistent top ten player if he improves his backhand.

 

[insideguy]

No. Another flashy player who lacks the important things to become champion.

The new Sam Querrey.

Maybe more like the new James Blake. But his forehand is higher percentage. But when James was on it was ridiculous.

 

[insideguy]

Okay, there may be SOME validity to your first statement. But do you honestly see him as another "Sam Querrey"? With all due respect to Querrey, he's not really that talented of a player in my opinion. He has a huge serve and a good forehand, and that's about it. His court coverage is minimal, his court positioning is laughable, and he has no defensive game to speak of!

Sock, contrary to what another poster previously stated, has excellent footwork, and amazing foot speed. He can run around his backhand faster than probably any other player (he's at least in Federer and Nadal's league). In particular, he moves better than most of the American's do on clay (which is refreshing). His serve is not quite as good as Querrey, but it's definitely above average for the tour. His return is MUCH better than any of the other Americans (Isner and Querrey are terrible). He's obviously a much better volleyer having won two grand slam doubles titles. And Sock has a lot more variety from the baseline with the drop shots and change ups.

Other than lack of experience (and questionable shot selection at times), Sock's most glaring weakness is his backhand. In this sense, he isn't too different from any of the other Americans in the last 20 years! In fact, other than Agassi, Blake, and Fish, pretty much every American player that's been in the top 50 has a very weak backhand side. It's almost like American coaches just stopped teaching this stroke altogether. And the majority of American players (including Sock) have pretty much copied the standard, Jim Courier, serve - forehand combination style play. Fortunately, Sock is still young enough that with the right coach he could develop that side a little more. He's only 22 years old!

To me, Sock (right now) would be more comparable to James Blake -- a talented player who remained an underachiever throughout his career because he never learned proper tennis strategy, employed a go-for-broke, flashy, high risk style, and could never take full advantage of all of his skills. Hopefully, Sock's coach can do more with him than Blake's coach could do with Blake.

Having said that, and getting back to the original question: do I think Sock will win a singles grand slam title? NO! But he could certainly become a solid, consistent top ten player if he improves his backhand.

I like the Blake comparison. However Socky has a higher percentage forehand and probably a better serve.

 

[accidental]

Okay, there may be SOME validity to your first statement. But do you honestly see him as another "Sam Querrey"? With all due respect to Querrey, he's not really that talented of a player in my opinion. He has a huge serve and a good forehand, and that's about it. His court coverage is minimal, his court positioning is laughable, and he has no defensive game to speak of!

Sock, contrary to what another poster previously stated, has excellent footwork, and amazing foot speed. He can run around his backhand faster than probably any other player (he's at least in Federer and Nadal's league). In particular, he moves better than most of the American's do on clay (which is refreshing). His serve is not quite as good as Querrey, but it's definitely above average for the tour. His return is MUCH better than any of the other Americans (Isner and Querrey are terrible). He's obviously a much better volleyer having won two grand slam doubles titles. And Sock has a lot more variety from the baseline with the drop shots and change ups.

Other than lack of experience (and questionable shot selection at times), Sock's most glaring weakness is his backhand. In this sense, he isn't too different from any of the other Americans in the last 20 years! In fact, other than Agassi, Blake, and Fish, pretty much every American player that's been in the top 50 has a very weak backhand side. It's almost like American coaches just stopped teaching this stroke altogether. And the majority of American players (including Sock) have pretty much copied the standard, Jim Courier, serve - forehand combination style play. Fortunately, Sock is still young enough that with the right coach he could develop that side a little more. He's only 22 years old!

To me, Sock (right now) would be more comparable to James Blake -- a talented player who remained an underachiever throughout his career because he never learned proper tennis strategy, employed a go-for-broke, flashy, high risk style, and could never take full advantage of all of his skills. Hopefully, Sock's coach can do more with him than Blake's coach could do with Blake.

Having said that, and getting back to the original question: do I think Sock will win a singles grand slam title? NO! But he could certainly become a solid, consistent top ten player if he improves his backhand.

Sock seems to have had a pretty similar career so far to what Querry had at the same age. Querry too looked to have a lot of potential back in 2009 when he was 22

such is life as a young American tennis player

 

[toby55555]

I was impressed watching him through the rounds on his way to winning Houston. He is a fearless player who takes on anything short and is good at defending break points. Commentators were united in that he needs to improve his cross court backhand
I see him winning several Tour titles but doubt he is GS material. Nonetheless I would rather watch him and Kyrgios playing first strike tennis than the next generation of baseline grinders who will likely be Coric and Thiem both fine players.
Top 10 for a while, top 20 for longer. Expect notable upsets at GS events and always fun to watch, wish him well.

 

[ImageIsEverything]

I hope so, he has a cool style. Maybe with his doubles background he will try to incorporate more of a net game to help give himself a unique edge over his peers.

 

[dgold44]

Hard to believe that James Blake did not win a major.

The guy seem to have every shot in the books!!!
Not sure what happen.
I remember he had the very tough US open loss to Agassi in 2005

 

[dgold44]

Noah Rubin did win Wimbledon jr. last year and may be the new hope if Sock cannot do it.

Who else is there. I think Rubin is about 550 in the world

 

[Shaolin]

Hard to believe that James Blake did not win a major.

The guy seem to have every shot in the books!!!
Not sure what happen.
I remember he had the very tough US open loss to Agassi in 2005

Roger Federer happened. That's why Blake didn't win a major.

 

[TheRed]

Hard to believe that James Blake did not win a major.

The guy seem to have every shot in the books!!!
Not sure what happen.
I remember he had the very tough US open loss to Agassi in 2005

Yeah but he had nothing between the ears. In my 30 years of watching tennis I've never seen a worse player strategically. As a former coach, a player like that would have made me pull my hair out. he just hit hard. That's it. That's not really talent. it's like the guy taking a multiple choice exam and answers C for every question. You just can't win a slam like that because you can't stay hot for 7 matches in a row.
You can argue Safin played like that but Safin was more talented and when his mind was into it, he would play fairly intelligently.

 

[AnotherTennisProdigy]

Top ten is definitely possible. Next American Hope? That's a really big task (which involves winning slams), and he's already showing less promise than Roddick did. Result wise I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up like Blake.

 

[Deleted member 307496]

Okay, there may be SOME validity to your first statement. But do you honestly see him as another "Sam Querrey"? With all due respect to Querrey, he's not really that talented of a player in my opinion. He has a huge serve and a good forehand, and that's about it. His court coverage is minimal, his court positioning is laughable, and he has no defensive game to speak of!

Sock, contrary to what another poster previously stated, has excellent footwork, and amazing foot speed. He can run around his backhand faster than probably any other player (he's at least in Federer and Nadal's league). In particular, he moves better than most of the American's do on clay (which is refreshing). His serve is not quite as good as Querrey, but it's definitely above average for the tour. His return is MUCH better than any of the other Americans (Isner and Querrey are terrible). He's obviously a much better volleyer having won two grand slam doubles titles. And Sock has a lot more variety from the baseline with the drop shots and change ups.

Other than lack of experience (and questionable shot selection at times), Sock's most glaring weakness is his backhand. In this sense, he isn't too different from any of the other Americans in the last 20 years! In fact, other than Agassi, Blake, and Fish, pretty much every American player that's been in the top 50 has a very weak backhand side. It's almost like American coaches just stopped teaching this stroke altogether. And the majority of American players (including Sock) have pretty much copied the standard, Jim Courier, serve - forehand combination style play. Fortunately, Sock is still young enough that with the right coach he could develop that side a little more. He's only 22 years old!

To me, Sock (right now) would be more comparable to James Blake -- a talented player who remained an underachiever throughout his career because he never learned proper tennis strategy, employed a go-for-broke, flashy, high risk style, and could never take full advantage of all of his skills. Hopefully, Sock's coach can do more with him than Blake's coach could do with Blake.

Having said that, and getting back to the original question: do I think Sock will win a singles grand slam title? NO! But he could certainly become a solid, consistent top ten player if he improves his backhand.

And we're meant to believe Sock is "that talented"?

He's the next Mardy Fish.

 

[Andyk028]

I can see Jack Sock making it into the Top 10. Too early to posit whether or not he will win slams. Five years ago I made a poll post regarding current and future One Slam Wonders with Isner in mind.
In hindsight, that was just the American in me wishing.

My prediction for the Next American Hope is Jared Donaldson. He's already won a few challengers/futures, and has beaten two Top 100 guys (including Smyczek) at the mere age of 19.