Jack Sock will make his 2020 debut this week at New York Open where he has been granted a wildcard. Sock will meet Marcos Giron in the first round in singles. It will be their first meeting as professionals.
Giron could be a suitable draw for Sock as the 26 year old American has only won three ATP main tour matches in his career (against eight losses).
Ranked 111, Giron lost his last singles match in Newport Beach in the round of 32 to 245th ranked Sebi Korda 64 36 76.
Sock, 27, currently has no ranking because he did not win one singles match last year outside of a Laver Cup match win vs Fabio Fognini.
If Sock manages to defeat Giron he will play 4th seed and ATP 43 Ugo Humbert in the second round.
In doubles, Sock will partner again with Nick Monroe (protected ranking entry), they will play the seeded team of McLachlan and Bambridge in the first round.
Other interesting first round matches are: Sandgren vs. Johnson, a rematch of their Houston final thriller a couple of years ago. Kecmanovic vs Paul. Karlovic vs Thompson with the winner to face top seed Isner. Nishioka vs Laaksonen. Schnur vs Koepfer.
In the qualies Rubin plays McDonald. Tomic vs Istomin. Lorenzi vs Garcia Lopez. Krueger vs Sela.
Gary Kushnirovich, who teaches lessons on public courts near my apartment in Bergen County, NJ, won the wildcard entry into qualies and will play Jason Jung.
Andrew Miller · February 9, 2020 at 1:15 pm
Good NY Open draw. Sock will prove something to himself – either that he’s back or he’s not. His draw looks BAD.
Harold · February 9, 2020 at 1:36 pm
Wow! A Long Island event did not give Rubin a WC into the Main Draw…maybe his podcast is pissing people off
Scoop Malinowski · February 9, 2020 at 6:37 pm
Even worse Harold, they gave a WC to an unknown named Brian Shi, I never even heard of this player. Rubin deserves a WC on his name alone. NY tennis legend. Give the guy a break. Who knows, maybe Rubin said no thanks, I will try to quali my way in. I don’t take wildcards into main draws because it means I’m not working hard enough.
Scoop Malinowski · February 9, 2020 at 6:41 pm
Sock’s career could be on the line. If he fails with this WC, he will have to drop to Futures. Seems he does not even want to go Challenger route. He did not do well in Challengers last year.
Scoop Malinowski · February 9, 2020 at 7:14 pm
Rubin beats McDonald who looked good last week in Dallas. Rubin is now 2-1 lifetime vs MM, their last match was a 6061 blowout win by MacMac at 2018 A2 616O qualies 1R. Jung beat my friend Gary Kushnirovich 6263.
Andrew Miller · February 9, 2020 at 7:32 pm
20 yr old Austrian Rodionov d. Kudla, “wins Dallas”.
Andrew Miller · February 9, 2020 at 7:34 pm
Garin, Schwartzman in a “death match” in Argentina. With Diego down a few in third set, how much does he want it?
Scoop Malinowski · February 9, 2020 at 7:36 pm
Garin has to be the most low key unsung player in the top 40. Same facial expression as Gasquet, more fire though.
Andrew Miller · February 9, 2020 at 7:38 pm
Next gen “losing” in Rotterdam qualies – Fucsovics levels Popyrin, and Barrere d(ecks) the “No Jarkko here” new man of Finland, E. Ruusuvuori.
In NY qualies, Arevalo and Klahn in a final set tiebreak to decide: who gets in. Who wants it more?
Andrew Miller · February 9, 2020 at 7:40 pm
Garin 4-0 on Diego. Garin in Raonic/Australian Open match played well – Raonic just handled him when he began catching fire (the Raonic I am used to seeing when he has all cylinders firing – plus he dug deep). Garin thankfully has a short memory and has had a good tournament in Cordoba.
Andrew Miller · February 9, 2020 at 7:50 pm
Garin wins/ d. Schwartzman, 6-0 in 3rd!
Andrew Miller · February 9, 2020 at 7:51 pm
Rodionov, how did he beat Kudla. Kudla ran out of luck, and Rodionov never ran out of lefty drop shots.
Dan Markowitz · February 9, 2020 at 9:00 pm
That’s really cool that the local pro at your courts in New Jersey is in the Qualis. Have you ever hit with the guy? How old is he? It is so hard to teach lessons and actually make it into an ATP event. Kudos to this guy!
Jeff · February 9, 2020 at 9:02 pm
Let’s face it, Giron should hang it up if he can’t beat Sock in an empty arena. Disgraceful for Sock to take up a wild card, not like fans will see him play. I really think wild cards are abused by most tournaments, they should be used for true stars like an Andy Murray coming back from injury and not a bum like Sock who is not guaranteed to give forth a genuine effort.
I wonder if Rodionov is a future star. Perhaps the great Muster should jump on his bandwagon and start coaching this new Austrian to continue his feud with Thiem. Winning the Dallas Challenger is a big deal and Rodionov is only 20 years old and defeated Seppi, Kudla, Mmoh and Koepfer. I would like to see him get a wild card in New York over Sock since he deserves it.
Scoop Malinowski · February 9, 2020 at 9:39 pm
Dan, Gary Kushnirovich played ATP Futures until 2018, when he stopped ranked around 1100 in the world. I guess he got the itch last year to try his hand at the NY Open wildcard tourney. He beat a friend’s son Michael Zheng, who won a 16s indoor nationals last year. Zheng took Kozlov to 61 76 in a pre qualifier final for NY Open. Wonder why Kozlov didn’t get the WC? I think Kozlov is playing Cleveland this week.
Andrew Miller · February 9, 2020 at 9:45 pm
Rodionov more like Melzer. Speaking of Melzer, didn’t know Galo Blanco ALSO had coached Melzer. No wonder Raonic is so solid, Blanco a bonadife strong coach, Melzer had a very solid, good career he can be proud of, singles or doubles or pretty much any which way one slices it.
Didn’t see it – Rodionov doesn’t seem to have the same versatility of other next generation lefties. Maybe if he works hard, irons out some things significantly, including playing a game that looks a little more like a junior than an ATP pro for now – that can be fixed.
All these things are do-able, if he commits etc.
Andrew Miller · February 9, 2020 at 9:46 pm
Giron hasn’t fixed some things.
Jeff · February 9, 2020 at 11:15 pm
I don’t know Giron from a gyro but if he can’t beat Sock in this spot, he needs another profession. This is Giron’s best chance to beat a pro people have heard of in an ATP event and he has to take advantage. Otherwise, he would be better off selling gyros since as Noah Rubin points out, tennis on the Challenger circuit does not pay.
Fact is Sock would have been better served playing in the Challenger in Cleveland but clearly he doesn’t have the humility to prove himself. I guess he wanted to be in the big city with his buddy Kyrgios, who pulled out, and Cleveland was beneath him. It is this kind of arrogance as to why most U.S. tennis fans hate Sock.
More intriguing is the Sandgren v Steve Johnson matchup. Johnson has been the top American in his career and that is what Sandgren is shooting for in his first match since his epic choke job against Federer. That should be a good one.
Jeff · February 9, 2020 at 11:20 pm
Nice feature on Sandgren on the ATP site. I recommend highly. He truly is the shining light for American men’s tennis at the moment.
Harold · February 10, 2020 at 8:11 pm
Pretty amazing Sandgren can’t get a clothing deal .looks like he’s wearing a 15 dollar UA t shirt.A recent good run, IW and Miami coming up, you’d think someone would sponsor him
Scoop Malinowski · February 10, 2020 at 8:46 pm
Sandgren looks like a park player in those duds, but he’s playing top 25 tennis this year. Wilson should step up and give the man a deal.
Andrew Miller · February 10, 2020 at 9:37 pm
Dimitrov d. Shapovalov in Rotterdam. Straight sets. Is this the end of the Youz? That’s three straight first round losses, including the loss today to Dimitrov, a super talent of course, an understandable yet still surprising loss to Pospisil in France, a first round exit in Australia to Fucsovics, a fairly early loss in Auckland to fellow next gen player Humbert, and he has lost six sets in a row, and nine of the past ten sets he’s played.
If anyone is in need of a few doubles wins to slowly fill up his confidence-o-meter, it’s Mr. Shapovalov.