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Injury timeout trick unravels Sock again today
16 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
Jack Sock was up a set and 4-1 on Alberto V Ramos seemingly on his way to a routine win. That’s when the Spanish lefthander called for an injury timeout and after the delay Ramos proceeded to win five straight games and the second set. And eventually the match 6-4 in the fifth set. This was the second time this year that Sock has crumbled after his opponent by using a medical timeout to break up his momentum. It also happened in the Houston final against Juan Monaco. Sock was in the winning position and then Pico stopped the match because of some kind of supposed injury. Sock visibly complained about it and then later feigned injury to mock Monaco who he obviously believed was faking. These antics by Sock broke his focus and fractured his game. Sock eventually lost in three sets with Monaco showing no signs of any injury at the end. Ramos must have had foreknowledge that Sock has a tendency of being easily disturbed by injury timeouts because today he used it to help turn the match to his favor.                      
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sharoten · May 28, 2016 at 12:49 am
Sock will never win anything if he’s so mentally fragile that he can’t handle normal ebbs and flows in matches. Monaco WAS injured. He missed the next couple of tournaments because of his injury.
MTOs have a place in the game. When the fans pay good money to see a whole competitive match, is it not better to allow necessary treatment so the injured player can carry on rather than default the match? It’s not Monaco’s fault that Sock had a temper tantrum and lost his focus (and his dignity).
Doogie · May 28, 2016 at 4:22 am
Ramos did not even had treatment!!
If the reason you lose a 5hr battle is that your opponent called for trainer to speak with him for 90 sec (without treatment) in miiddle of 2nd set – you should rather stop playing tennis.
Sorry but this is bullshit talking: Of course u can lose concentration for short time but for 5hrs – c`mon.
Doogie · May 28, 2016 at 4:27 am
Maybe Sock should smarter think about why he has passed balls without movement, while his opponent fought like a lion – getting boos from the crowd. Working on fitness should not be a bad idea.
Dan Markowitz · May 28, 2016 at 9:07 am
Sock looks like a lion compared to his former girlfriend Sloane Stephens who unbelievably lost 2 and 1 to Pironkova, or whatever her name is. That’s unbelievable. Sock’s coach is Troy Hahn, that’s unbelievable too. He should get a coach who has more pedigree.
Scoop Malinowski · May 28, 2016 at 10:00 am
Doogie: Sock has shown visible frustration regarding this opponent action in the past – I believe the players know this and are exploiting it against Sock – my opinion –
Scoop Malinowski · May 28, 2016 at 10:02 am
Sock and Spadea! Stevens has always been susceptible to zombie losses – she can play great tennis and also mediocre strange tennis –
Jg · May 28, 2016 at 11:43 am
If Sock were more hard core, he would ask Brad Gilbert to coach him, 6 months with Brad Gilbert would help him.
Jg · May 28, 2016 at 12:18 pm
Can anyone think of a sport where the opponents wear the same thing, was watching the Zerev Thiem and they were both wearing those hideous adidas zebra uniforms, you would think adidas would tell one of them to wear something else
Doogie · May 28, 2016 at 12:36 pm
@scoop
Of course they do it to disrupt his rhythm and it is working.
But as a pro u can work on it – to be able to handle this. Are there mental coaches or not??
It seems to me that he does not want to work at all – it is enough for him. But he is still young but he has to change his attitude of his job. I hope he realises quickly.
He has more talent than Fritz imo. Doubles specialist are afraid of his FH shot – they say they have lot of difficulties to handle it (because no time to prepare for their volleys and due to spin on his FH)
Scoop Malinowski · May 28, 2016 at 1:25 pm
jg: Zverev had the zebra headband on and Thiem did not 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · May 28, 2016 at 1:28 pm
Doogie: in my “Facing Nadal” book Ljubicic told me that Nadal’s stalling tactics are effective in that at the end of the set in crunch time the big hitter’s timing will be thrown off that fraction by the stalling which will cause him to miss the big shot by a an inch or two – This is coming from Ljubicic who is without a doubt one of the smartest guys in pro tennis – stalling effects the big heavy hitters and Sock is the biggest hitter of them all with his forehand – pro tennis is a learning process and Sock is still learning how to deal with subtle sneaky trickery and gamesmanship –
Jg · May 28, 2016 at 2:15 pm
Gulbis didn’t wear the Zebra stuff against Tsonga, who wore it, but maybe Gulbis doesn’t rate with Adidas to get the latest stuff??
Scoop Malinowski · May 28, 2016 at 6:07 pm
JG: It is interesting that Gulbis is wearing the old adidas style – of all the adidas player I believe he’s the only one still wearing the old duds –
Bryan · May 30, 2016 at 2:26 pm
At this year’s FO these players are routinely using injury time outs or lobby for a rain delay to stop opponents’ momentum. Sock was hot then came back cold. Nicole Gibbs’ 1st round match vs Watson was also going her way, then they stopped it for the day even though it was hardly raining. Sure enough, she failed to win a single game the next day.
Nobody called Ramos or Watson out on this but there sure was a firestorm when Djokovic tried to get play stopped at the Italian Open final.
Bryan · May 30, 2016 at 2:28 pm
LOL Gulbis not being popular enough to wear the zebra kit? No. He isn’t wearing the zebra kit because he won’t allow Adidas to put a clown suit on him.
Scoop Malinowski · May 30, 2016 at 5:50 pm
Bryan: I guess the difference is Djokovic is under the microscope and when he sneezes or bats an eye wrong certain people will say something – Watson and Ramos are under the radar fringe players and so they don’t endure the excessive scrutiny –