Jack Sock, top-20 player, no. 1 American, just played and lost a match to Kyle Edmund, the Brit who was like 1 and 20 against top 20 players before this match, that was astounding in how poorly Sock played. He was up a break at 4-3 in the first set when there was like a 15-minute delay because a fan got sick in the stands. But after that, Sock just rolled over and played like an under confident junior. He won only one more game the entire match and made Edmund look like Jim Courier in his slam-winning prime.Sock’s last service game was befuddling. At 15-30, he hit a backhand volley that was right at the net, two feet wide. At break point, he hit a sitter forehand wide. In the last game of the match, Sock hit his sloppy slappy backhand into the net and followed that up with almost whiffing on a forehand return of serve. Brad Gilbert announcing the match on ESPN 3 said any Sock fan would have to be very concerned watching Sock play this match. Gilbert said Sock’s new coach, the somber-faced Jay Berger (and when has anyone ever seen Jay Berger really smile? Mrs. Jay Berger? Berger is about as puzzling a coach for the ever-smiling Sock as Vince Lombardi if he was a tennis coach would be for Derrick Rostagno), must be saying, “What’s going on?” Sock looked like he couldn’t get off the court fast enough in losing the match with a flurry of first or second ball errors.
After Houston, Sock is now 4-5 with two losses in slams in the first and second round of the French and Wimby, consecutively, to Vesely and a guy I’d never heard of, the 217th ranked Sebastian Ofner. Gilbert said tonight that Sock lost all intensity after the delay. He better get it back soon or else Sock might fall behind, unbelievable as it might seem, Ryan Harry Harrison, who’s into the Atlanta semis against now Edmund and creeping up in the rankings, now at no. 42 to Sock’s no. 19.
Will Sock right his ship or go down as a promising flop?
