Jack Sock Ready For Third Rumble with Rafael Nadal

That was really disappointing, I was hoping for a more competitive match and the fans probably were too. There’s just such a small margin for error against Nadal and Sock missing those easy shots to go up two breaks in the second were killers.

That’s Nadal, he maintains his A- level all throughout while Sock had his A plus game for maybe five games of today’s match.

Quote from Venus –

‘It’s an amazing feeling to be better than the world No 1’.

Translation: ‘It’s my sister who should be there not you Angelique’.

It’ll be interesting to see how Simona fares in Fed Cup v GB against Konta again and presumably without Cahill there.

Sock has top ten in him. He actually has to believe he deserves to be on the court with Nadal, and for a stretch of games that put him up 2-0 and 40-15 up on Nadal’s serve, he had to believe he had a chance to be a double break up and capable of winning that set. Winning isn’t a readiness thing, but a ready or not here i come thing. Nadal was not ready to beat Federer in their first match back in 2004, where he straight setted him on the very same court.

It’s no mystery Sock’s backhand gets picked on. To his credit and amazingly to me it is sturdier than it has ever been and Sock seems excited to even rip a few beauties off it, but it remains an advanced rally shot, not a dependable wing or weapon.

Given how nervous Sock was and how much time he took to settle down it was going to be a quick day at the office for Nadal, and thankfully Sock began finding the form that has made him so lethal lately. Only that beating Nadal requires just that, and many players who seem to make inroads on Nadal when they play tend to find their level dropping while Nadal cooly and steadily wipes out a player’s momentum.

Given that this is his twelfth straight year of grinding down and beating up nearly all opponents credit where credit is due!

To state the obvious Nadal is one of the best players to ever pick up a racquet. To beat him you have to stay with him.

Cahill clip was embarrassing. Adidas should pull the plug. Why does he even want to be seen begging Simons or chiding him and Simona being like you have no idea what I’m feeling and thinking over and over about earlier break points on the forehand wing. So what?

It also gives the impression of entitled players and whiny coaches. Even if that may be a reality why encourage this?

If they had occ in the men’s tour maybe there would be lots of expletives and fewer broken racquets. Must see tv isn’t great for the sport.

Andrew –
I wrote my last post while you were writing yours. I found the clip embarrassing too – kind of made my toes curl. I felt sorry for Simona. Why should we listen in on conversations which should be private ?
But it did give an insight into the whole creepy business. Where’s the entertainment value, so called ?

Adidas don’t pay Cahill now – I gather Simona does. And Virginia Ruzici, her manager, likes Cahill so we probably won’t see a change anytime soon.

If Simona tends to brood about mistakes instead of moving on that would be a difficult thing for any coach to deal with. The idea of a mental coach, presuming she does not have one, sounds good.

Cahill sounded fantastic in announcer booth with Brad Gilbert and horrible in pleading, prodding Simona to steel herself for a third set. Pathetic display out there.

If I’m ESPN I’d want to increase the man’s announcing time, and I’d also want to get him out of occ to cut down on unpleasant coverage!!!

Going back a bit – yes, Konta did have OCC – with Fissette who once coached Simona, but it sounds as if it was a rather light-hearted occasion.

saw in paper today Brian Boland, coach at UVA is becoming head of player development for the USTA, which means there is a good opening at UVA for a head coach.

Is Martin Blackman out?

Sock serious to me. Nadal is a fourteen time slam champion tied with Sampras, he’s not going to be intimidated by a small burst of momentum where Sock outplayed him in every category – four games in a match where you need to win twelve games. It was an unsustainable level from Sock. Nadal had zero problems with the Sock serve, given Nadal is one of the best returners of all time.

Sock’s game isn’t there yet to beat Nadal. It’s gotten better. He keeps up this rate of improvement, UPS his fitness, improves his strategy, he can get a win on the top four players. Every player that commits to that does it.

Monroe/Sock beat the Bryans in SS.

Wow. Incredible win by Fed. Berd played spectacular tennis unleashing fierce backhands up the line and big serves and earned two match pts but Fed battened down the hatches and won a thriller 8-6. Very valuable win for the Fed confidence tank which was already in F for full. Berdych said in Facing Federer he loves to play Roger and once again he showed us he is a great player. Federee inspires the best out of everyone.

Scoop, if so, how is it Nadal played so safe against Sock? He backed up for Sock’s big serve, he hit a three quarter pace ball; he fed Sock a diet of backhands that, Sock hitting cross court, went right to Nadal’s wheelhouse, right to his big forehand; and in general flustered Sock in the first set by extending the rallies beyond five balls, none of those won by Sock in the first set.
I don’t call that intensity as much as a fourteen time slam champ who’s still playing at a very elite level. There are only three men in history with fourteen slams or more – Federer has more and Nadal and Sampras have fourteen a piece.
All those things – backing up for a big serve so that it plays to your return game, closing in on a volley, getting your opponent to hit to your strength while you go after his weakness….
Sheesh, that’s some mental jujitsu out there blended with a very practical strategy. I’m not sure if it’s intensity as much as plain old school seeing what your opponent does well, take that away from them, make them hit shots they don’t want to, and hit your best shots often. Winning combos.

Nadal, the ultimate lunchbucket player.

If Rafa Serena Hewitt never yelled come on or had their freakish intensities and played with Querrey level fury i reckon theyd have won a lot less majors. Sock is close. He needs to find his beast mode. Hasnt found it yet.

If you missed the Kyrgios-Zverev match you might want to watch a replay. That was an incredible match. When Zverev pulled out the 2nd set tiebreaker he was yelling “I’m not going anywhere!”. I had most of the match on mute as I was hosting a party but it looked like both of them were yelling at the chair umpire at different times. Not sure what that was about. Either way, both of those guys put on a show and know how to entertain the crowd. Kyrgios the human highlight film pulled it out in the 3rd but the match could have gone either way. Finally we get Kyrgios-Federer, a match that should have happened at Indian Wells.

This shot by Kyrgios is just a bit of what happened in the match tonight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6eF3Oyc82Q

Kyrgios looks ready to be the next first time major winner. Ahead of Sock Kei Berd Thiem Ferrer Raonic etc.

If Konta can keep this up she’ll be the new No 1. So maybe the change we’ve been waiting for in the women’s game is here.
Big challenge for some of the others to step up and combat Konta’s power and ambition.

Tennis can be very unfair. Nishioka has a torn ACL and is scheduled for surgery on April 4. So it is most fortunate that he did not continue playing in his match. Just when he was doing so well, having a good run. It reminds me of Raonic needing hip surgery in his breakout year.

Konta is a very tough player. Tremendous hitting depth and such a fierce competitor. No 1 is achievable. Very strong smart unique player.

Love seeing this from the women’s side. I had Williams sister fatigue years ago. Out with the old, in with the new.

With the acl I guess we can count out Nishioka for the rest of the year. He would really have to push it to get back in even 7 months.

Doubles News: Men’s final is Monroe/Sock vs Kubot/Melo.

Women’s SFs: Chan/Hingis vs Mirza/Strycova. That could be a fun match. And of course I will be rooting for Dabrowski/xu over Hlavackova/Chen. Gabriela is only 24 and is doing well in doubles. Maybe she will be the female Daniel Nestor of Canadian tennis!