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BNP PARIBAS OPENMarch 8, 2013Jack SockINDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA I. KARLOVIC/J. Sock THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Bad luck? Good start. How did it get away from you? JACK SOCK: I don't know. I mean, he started serving better. He started putting a lot more returns in play, making me play more on serve and missed a couple balls that you can't against a guy who serves like is that, give away your service game. He happened to win. Q. How were the conditions out there? Did the wind affect you at all? JACK SOCK: I mean, last week in Delray was really windy, too. I was used to it. I actually like the wind. I don't mind at all. But it was chillier. The ball wasn't doing much. Serve wasn't‑‑ didn't really think the serve was doing much. Obviously equal for both players, but it wasn't too much. Q. When you look at all the young American women coming up, there seems to be nine or ten all of a sudden who are winning and climbing the rankings. Are you jealous? Do you wish you had that competition amongst young American men, or does it matter? They said they kind of push each other. JACK SOCK: Yeah, I mean, more of them are probably ranked higher and in the running for titles and stuff like that at the moment. But, I mean, I think we have a solid group of big guys coming up, too. Harrison, myself, Williams, Kudla, Johnson. I mean, there is a lot of us there. Klahn. I mean, there is a lot of us still coming up trying to make it and do well. I think we all push each other, too. I mean, just at the moment they're probably ranked higher and going further in draws. Q. Towards the end of the second set you were saying something back and forth with the ref or umpire. What was going on there? JACK SOCK: I mean, he had missed two calls that went the other way, so I was just asking him if he was sure about a couple of calls, probably. Q. You seem pretty disappointed. Did you feel like the match was in your hands? JACK SOCK: I mean, yeah. When you have match point you seem pretty‑‑ seems like it's pretty much in your hands. Pretty routine backhand up the line to make, and I missed it by a couple of inches and missed a simple forehand to lose the set. But, yeah, I mean, any time you have match point you seem pretty comfortable out there. Q. You had a hard time shaking him off in the third set. JACK SOCK: Yeah, I mean, I was up 40‑Love in the first game, 40‑15 in my second service game. Got broken in both games, so it was not like I got crushed in the third. Q. What positives will you take out of this match? JACK SOCK: I still thought for the set and a half, two sets I was hitting the ball pretty well‑‑ obviously to a guy you're not going to get any rhythm with. But for the points we did have and the balls I did hit from the ground, I thought I was hitting my forehand pretty well. For the conditions thought I was moving well, hitting the ball well. I was focused out there, obviously, but just got to take away the positives from it and move forward. I have had a decent couple of weeks, Memphis through here, just playing better tennis and happier with where I am. Hopefully can continue that through as much of the season as I can. Q. What would be a successful year for you? JACK SOCK: I mean, for me, just competing and getting in the matches. I mean, I love coming out here and playing. I love competing. I love the sport. So, I mean, for me just to stay out there and stay healthy and feel like I'm improving, if I feel like I'm a better tennis player at the end of the year than I am right now, I would say that's a pretty successful year. Q. You know, like you, I grew up in Nebraska where the weather is terrible and tennis courts aren't all that plentiful. Do you suppose you might be further ahead in your tennis career had you been somewhere else? JACK SOCK: No. I'd say I'm doing all right for now. I mean, I moved ‑‑I was in Nebraska till fifth grade and moved to Kansas City for a tennis academy from fifth grade through high school. So it wasn't like I was struggling to find courts in Nebraska and playing in the snow or something. It wasn't like I was‑‑ didn't have anyone to hit with. I was in the academy for pretty much my whole childhood hitting with good players, traveling, playing tournaments in the States, and I'd say I took a different ‑‑definitely took a different approach to where I am now. But obviously, as you can see, we're all now here playing the same tournaments and the same draws. I didn't go play ITFs overseas every weekend to chase points. I stayed in the States and played the junior tournaments. But now we're all ranked just outside the top 100 trying to make it. Q. Do you feel that you're struggling more with yourself or you're sort of learning the ropes of the pro tour? You're still a young guy. Do you feel like you're playing at that level but you're just struggling with consistency or what's going on? JACK SOCK: Yeah. I mean, feel like I'm ‑‑feel like I have been out here now for a little bit. Feel like I know more of the ins and outs of the tour and how everything works. Obviously still new to it and don't know everything, but definitely doing a better job of it. I do feel like I can compete with a lot of the guys. Obviously beating a guy top 15 in Memphis when I beat Milos and making quarters there and having a chance to make quarters in Delray up a set and a break. I mean, I feel like I can advance in draws now and can compete with a lot of the guys in the top 50, top 30. But just a matter obviously of myself getting my ranking up and getting to have those opportunities. I'm not there yet rankings‑wise, but hopefully I will be sooner rather than later. Q. When you spelled out your ambitions for this year, you talked about competing. You didn't say anything about winning. Do you think you're sufficiently ambitious? JACK SOCK: Yeah. I mean, I love winning just as much as anybody else and I hate losing just as much as anybody else. But I'm not one to set, Oh, I have to be top 50 by the end of the year or else ‑‑I hate doing stuff like that. I'm just going to go out there and compete. I think with competing comes winning and progress and ranking, whatever you need. But I'm not going to go out there and say, I have to be 47 in the world by the end of December or else I didn't have a good year. Q. Watching that match, towards the end of the second set, as you started to seemingly get frustrated with the ump, I think you were counting a little bit how long it was taking the ball kids to get the ball. Do you think that that frustration affects your play at all? JACK SOCK: I mean, I was never counting with the ball boys how long it was taking to get the ball. They're out there doing their best. I don't think I complained about it. But, no, I mean, it's a frustrating sport when things aren't going well, but obviously that's why the top guys are where they are and some of the guys are struggling where they are. You've just got to channel it and you've got to use it in a positive way. I think that's what a lot of us young guys are trying to do better. I mean, you can notice it on the court and you're aware of it on the court when you're playing. To be able to turn it into something positive or to turn it into an energy boost or something like that is what the top guys do and it's what the guys, my age need to do, as well. There is a lot of little things that are going on on the court. I mean, they're just things we need to control and move on. But, I mean, the frustration never takes over what I'm doing on the court. Q. Some of the other younger players will say that learning to focus point to point like some of the veteran stars do is a big challenge and a learning curve, never turning your mind off at any point at any time. Do you feel that way? JACK SOCK: Yeah, if you ask anyone who watches tennis, that's probably one of the main things they would say the best guys do. I mean, they're never showing emotion. They're positive and fighting for every point. They're hustling for every ball. They're never just throwing in the towel at any point in the match. I think a lot of the younger guys or guys trying to make it can learn from that and can watch and take notes from it. But, yeah, it's also something I'm trying to do. I think I have been doing a lot better job of it, especially this year. I mean, yeah, it's just what you have to do to make it in this sport. It's a tough sport to make it in, and you have to be as professional as possible. That's the beginning of it: fighting for every point and never just giving loose points away or free points away. I think I'm definitely doing a better job of that, and hopefully I can show it the rest of the year. Q. You've faced Ivo's serve today, which is a big ask, and you had Milos in Memphis. Can you compare their serves? Who has the toughest serve and toughest stroke you've faced? JACK SOCK: I mean, with the conditions like the way the match was today and the way the match was, Milos' serve indoors could be the toughest shot in tennis. I mean, it's just tough to read. I mean, he can toss it pretty much anywhere and hit it anywhere. I think his second serve is a lot more active than some of the other taller guys. I also played Isner last year in Atlanta on a high‑bouncing court which was not fun. But I think all three of those guys‑ Isner, Ivo, and Milos ‑ are very close. I think John and Milos are probably closer than Ivo, but probably have to give the slight edge to Milos just because I think his second serve is tougher to handle. He has a lot of stuff on it and it jumps a lot. But any of them are not going to have an easy time breaking them. Q. You were working with a USTA coach in San Jose, Memphis, and Delray. Is Nystrom back with you, too? What's the situation? JACK SOCK: Nystrom does probably 70% of the year, and then Jay Berger from the USTA will do the other part of it. I love working with both. Obviously had some success with Jay in Memphis and Delray, and then I was excited to start working with Joakim here again, and hopefully we can finish out these couple of weeks I have with him here and work on some things to get better and have some decent results. Q. Can we go back to Nebraska for a minute? Do you have one fun story you could share from your days back there? Got anything of interest at all? JACK SOCK: Jeez, that was a long time ago. No, I mean, obviously it wasn't the tennis hotbed in Lincoln, Nebraska where it snowed four months a year. But, I mean, I had a blast. I mean, I picked up a racquet when I was eight years old for the first time and went to the local racquet club and started practicing and taking lessons and hitting with the older kids. Within a year and a half of starting I was nine playing matches against 16 year olds. Then by the time I was 10 I was beating the 17 years olds and moving up in the levels or whatever they called it. But I loved playing tennis. I was on the court as many hours as possible, as I could. My parents had to pull me off the court. And I love it now. I think it definitely started at a young age where I fell in love with it, and I'm still enjoying it out here and have a long career ahead and can enjoy it as well. Q. Did your parents ever make you shovel snow? JACK SOCK: Yeah, I shoveled the driveway more than a few times. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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