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LAVER CUPSeptember 22, 2019Jack SockPatrick McEnroeGeneva, Switzerland ISNER-SOCK/Federer-Tsitsipas 5-7, 6-4, 10-8 Team Europe - 8 Team World - 7 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Jack, congratulations for the win. My question is for Patrick. Can you please explain us what happened with Nick and what happened with the changing matchup? Because we are a little bit in the cloud. VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: Join the club. JACK SOCK: Yeah, what happened with Rafa? VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: Nick has had a little bit of a shoulder issue coming in. Obviously he was able to play quite well yesterday, but I think the amount of tennis he played yesterday just came up this morning, and he was feeling something in his shoulder that had been bothering him but not significantly. So significantly it was this morning. Tried to warm up twice two different times, and was pretty obvious that he wasn't going to be able to go full out. That's when we knew we had to make a change. Unfortunately, you know, the rules that are in place did not allow us to make the sort of changes that we would have preferred to make, because since it was our turn on Sunday to match up against their players, we were basically denied that once the schedule was put out. So once Nadal just pulled out, our options were limited. We would have put Shapovalov in as our next player, but because he was matched up against Thiem, we were not allowed to do that. That was the reason for our protests that we decided to wait a little bit before we left the locker room, because we don't think that's fair. Q. You don't think it's fair? And what you would have asked? What were you asking? Put in Shapovalov or... VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: No, that we'd be able to change our lineup about who plays who, because they put in their, you know, their three players, and then we matched up to play against their players today, and then when we got here this morning, you know, obviously Rafa pulled out, but then we weren't allowed to shuffle our lineup. So in other words, we could have had Isner play against Thiem, but we weren't allowed to do that. Or Milos or anybody else play Thiem in this match. But we weren't allowed to play Shapovalov. So we could have played Jack Sock in a singles, as well. Those were our options. So we would have liked to be able to change who was playing whom today. Because the whole point of being able to have... JACK SOCK: They saw our lineup yesterday. VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: They saw our lineup yesterday, and they said, Okay, we want Roger to play whomever he played yesterday. I can't remember now. You know what I'm saying. So today was our chance to say, Well, okay, they've got Nadal, Federer, and Zverev. What's our best lineup against those three players? JACK SOCK: On the most important day. VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: Not to mention the fact that Dominic Thiem was the first player here this morning to practice very early this morning well before we heard that Nadal was pulling out. You understand our predicament? Q. So do you think they knew already yesterday night that Nadal was not able to play? VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: I will leave that to you to decide. Q. So tricky, this Europe team, eh? What do you think? JACK SOCK: Doubles? I will go watch Fritz unless you guys want to talk about the doubles, as well. I can go support or we can talk about the lineup all day. Pretty important match here. Q. Jack, on the doubles, coming back from that set down and the cliffhanger that was, the match tiebreak, just talk about that. JACK SOCK: Yeah, I mean, we had an early break in the first. We came out, you know, pretty red hot again. Great game to break. And then I had a sloppy service game on my end to get it back. Obviously ended up losing the first. I thought they both played really well. I thought Tsitsipas was on fire again with his returns and stuff for a bit. We were able to get the energy up again midway through the second, get that break, carry the momentum. We know match tiebreaks can go any way. You never know. We had early mini breaks, gave them back. Down mini breaks, and came up with some really good shots at the end and gave Team World the lead. Yeah, I'm excited to get this over with and go cheer on Taylor. Q. Jack, one more question not only about your doubles but about the whole weekend. You have played amazingly well. Can you explain -- I mean, is it the Laver Cup that all of a sudden -- I know you had a tough year with your injury, but you seem to really enjoy playing in the Laver Cup and always it brings out the best of you. JACK SOCK: Yeah, I like team atmospheres. I grew up playing sports. I know Nick said the same. Isner, probably Taylor, as well. If you're American, you grew up playing a lot of team sports. So we really thrive off them. When you can play a point, I feel like no matter how good or bad you're playing in a tournament leading up to this, you can come and look over at guys that -- I mean, for us, we're all very close, I feel like. You look over, and they are supporting you. Then you have both Macs. They're fist-pumping and getting you going. I feel you can't really play bad when you have that going on. Yeah, I thrive in the atmosphere. I love a loud crowd whether they are European or for us. I just like the atmosphere. Q. Last night I met somebody called Eric Sock. He was quite enthusiast. He said United States of America is the best place in the world, and Nebraska is much better than Tuscany. I'd like to know if you really feel all this atmosphere around you. And what do you think about Tsitsipas? Because he was able to lose in doubles, once with Nadal and once with Federer in 24 hours. Is he good doubles player, in your opinion, or maybe Europe should have played with somebody else? JACK SOCK: Part A, I would say I love being American. I'm proud of where I'm from. Nebraska may not be the most scenic place, but it's home for me. It's where I was born. Yeah, I love Nebraska. I love the Midwest. Part B... VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: Isn't it his birthday? JACK SOCK: It's his birthday. That's why he's all high energy. Part B, Tsitsipas, no, I mean, it's not his fault. I don't think -- in doubles, it's both guys. You win as a team; you lose as a team. I would appreciate maybe we played all right. We played pretty well to win the match, as well. It wasn't just Tsitsipas' fault he lost both matches. VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: Both were super-tiebreakers. JACK SOCK: I mean, he's a hell of a player, obviously. He's, what, 7 in the world? I think he's a pretty good tennis player. If you give him Roger and Rafa as a partner, probably going to win nine times -- I mean, they're going to win a lot of the time. We came up with some great tennis. Thank you. Q. Patrick, just on the point about Nick, the shoulder you suggested has been a bit of an issue the last couple of days, then why pick him last night to play today if there was a bit of a question mark on the shoulder? VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: Well, we didn't really know it was going to flare up the way it did. I think it's a great question. I think in retrospect, if we had known that if he played for four-and-a-half tough sets that it would flare up the way it did, we probably would have played him in doubles the first night and have him play just one match per day. But there was no sign that that was going to be an issue. He just told us, you know, he'd been feeling it a little bit even in his practice week. But it wasn't totally clear to us coming in that he thought it would be an issue. Nor did we. But I think it's a good question. If we had known it -- you know, probably similar with Rafa. Rafa obviously said his wrist had been bothering him a little bit coming in. Maybe in retrospect he shouldn't have played back-to-back matches. Q. Playing devil's advocate, if Rafa hadn't pulled out, do you think you would have still played Nick, or do you think there may have been a situation of replacing Nick? VICE-CAPTAIN PATRICK McENROE: I don't believe Nick could play today. Doesn't matter who he was against. I was at both his warmups, and he did not look ready to play. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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