Poor Jack Sock. The tennis gladiator named after the bravest piece of laundry in the mid-hamper has succumbed to Nicolás Almagro in the third round of the US Open. Sock's sacking was hardly surprising. After all, Almagro was the tournament's 11-seed. Sock, meanwhile, was unseeded. No shame there.
Considering Sock's healthy run in this tourney, it has been a coming-out party of sorts for the 19-year-old Kansan. Winning the US Open mixed doubles in 2011 is nice, and Sock has proven formidable alone before, as during his wild-card run to the Junior Grand Slam title at the 2010 US Open. Until today, he was really feeling his oats. " I feel comfortable where I am, feel confident," he told the Lincoln Journal Star. "I think it shows on big points."
How right he was. It's one thing to be a teenager-cum-blog celebrity, but American tennis is in fact counting on Sock's development. Thirty-year-old AARP candidate Andy Roddick staved off retirement by advancing to the fourth round, while Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey are still alive in the third round. But that's not a particularly deep U.S. bench. Given his age and the ability he showed in this tidy little tournament run, there's reason to believe he just may have even more in him.