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NITTO ATP FINALS

November 12, 2017

Jack Sock

London, England, United Kingdom

R. FEDERER/J. Sock

6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It looked like after the first game, you really settled in and played well. What did you think overall? The first game, was it more getting used to the court, or he hit two great backhands down the line in that game?
JACK SOCK: Yeah, actually I don't think I played too bad of a game. I missed one first serve in the first game. I had my chances. He put me in some awkward positions on some of those forehands. Like the first point, kind of had to pick one direction. He guessed the right way, hit a good shot after.

Yeah, not a whole lot to hang my head about. Obviously, you know, would like to start out with a win instead, especially being right there. It was a couple points. Had some looks to get back on serve in the first. Yeah, he came up with some good shots in the breaker. Other than that, it was a close match.

Q. How surprised were you turning your back on Roger Federer caused him to miss a shot? Is that a tactic you'll be trying again?
JACK SOCK: I mean, I did it more for fun. Probably do it three times a year. No, it's not a normal tactic.

Q. You didn't really manage to create any breakpoints on his serve, despite playing quite well. How hard is it to play against his serve on this sort of surface?
JACK SOCK: Yeah, gave myself a lot of chances in the first. Had some 30-Alls, had some Love-30s, some balls to go Love-40 a few times. In the second, he caught a serving rhythm.

I think everybody wants to talk obviously about the big guys who do have the best serves, Isner and them. For guys of average height like the rest of us, his serve is extremely difficult to read and to catch up with sometimes.

Yeah, I mean, he served well today.

Q. Could you describe the feeling you had walking on court.
JACK SOCK: Yeah, I thought the intros were pretty sweet. The floor was all lit up, pictures. I thought the graphics were really cool.

Yeah, I mean, I think it makes for a fun atmosphere. The fans love it. It's fun to walk out to matches like that, of course. Yeah, I'm looking forward to my next few.

Q. How did you find the conditions today? Cilic in his pretournament conference said he thought it was slower than Paris. He expected it to be faster with the crowd there. Did you notice a big difference between practice and today?
JACK SOCK: No, I think the sound is different. Practicing all week, the ball really feels dead in there when there's not one person in the stands. When the people come in, the ball feels a little bit livelier. Obviously it sounds better I think as a player than when there's no one in there.

Pace-wise on the court, I actually think it's pretty similar to Paris, would be my guess.

Q. It's great that tennis players go out there to entertain, but what do you think when you hit a shot between your legs and see the ball fly past you into the corner?
JACK SOCK: Well, I mean, he hit a good shot, credit to him. But it was a minor shank. When he hit it, it wasn't very clean, I figured it was going to go out. It landed just inside both lines.

But, I don't know. It's Roger, I guess. He can do no wrong. Everything goes in (smiling).

Q. Right now Rafa Nadal has the trophy as No. 1 of the year. What is your feeling? Roger is like 50-4, and won seven titles. What is your feeling about the situation between Rafa and Roger?
JACK SOCK: About Rafa being No. 1 and his record?

Q. Yes. There's some people that have a good argument to say that Roger also deserves the No. 1 ranking.
JACK SOCK: I mean, you got to play the tournaments if you want to be No. 1. Yeah, I mean, obviously he's won whatever percentage of tournaments he played this year. He gave himself a chance.

But the ranking system is what it is. Obviously it's not changing. It's been like that for a long time. Obviously if you want to have the most points at the end of the year and be No. 1, you got to play a certain amount of tournaments.

Yeah, I mean, Roger has played some outstanding tennis this year. Everyone knows that. But obviously those extra tournaments that Rafa played, you know, helps with the points.

Q. Looking ahead, what do you expect from your two next opponents? Is it going to be much easier now?
JACK SOCK: I mean, probably not. Since everyone here is top eight in the world, everyone is a pretty good tennis player.

I don't know. It will be different for sure. Roger puts a pressure on you that I feel no other player really does. I'll definitely be able to maybe hit my way into the next few matches, have some longer rallies, not feel sort of the presence he puts on you when you're out there.

Yeah, I've had wins against both of the guys. Had losses, as well. But at least I can take stuff away from those matches where I've had the wins and apply it for the rest of the week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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