All dreams must come to an end. For Jack Sock, the Nitto ATP Finals fairy tale concluded on Saturday in London. As he has done throughout the past few weeks, Sock refused to fall without a fight, battling to the last ball against Grigor Dimitrov. The Bulgarian prevailed 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, but the gritty semi-final encounter would be decided by the slimmest of margins. The tennis world won't soon forget the American's magical run to punch his ticket to the season finale and glittering performances under the bright lights of The O2. And neither will he. Despite succumbing to Dimitrov, Sock admits there are only positives from his experience. "I can't complain," Sock told the assembled media following Saturday's match....
For the first time in Nitto ATP Finals history, three debutants are into the semi-finals at the season finale. And with sixth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov, who won Group Pete Sampras, playing eighth-seeded Jack Sock, the second qualifier from Group Boris Becker, the London crowd is guaranteed at least one debutant in the final for the first time since 2007 (David Ferrer). It goes without saying that this final four-clash is a tremendous opportunity for both Dimitrov and Sock. Not only will the winner become the lowest seed to advance to the championship match since No. 6-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2011, but they will give themselves an opportunity to win the biggest title of their careers. That adds even more pressure to...
Your number one job in a match is not to play great. It’s to make the opponent play bad. Jack Sock defeated Alexander Zverev 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 on Thursday evening at the Nitto ATP Finals by doing exactly that. Sock didn’t play amazing tennis, but that’s not really the point. Sock didn’t beat himself, which has much more to do with why he has successfully navigated his way through to the semi-finals this weekend. At 4-4 in the third set, Zverev was surging hard after winning 11 of the previous 15 points to erase a 1-4 deficit. Sock had won 17 of the first 22 points of the third set, so nobody really knew how this was going to finish....
