Coming off one of the best runs of his life, Jack Sock sought to build upon his fourth round success at the French Open and his doubles title at Wimbledon last year in his first round matchup against 69th ranked Sam Groth. At his first Grand Slam as a seed, Sock came in as the clear favorite, however, Sock’s immaturity would allow Groth to steal the match.
Through the way in which he won the opening game, Groth set the tone for his playing style for the match; he would play aggressively, but within himself. Sock, on the other hand, came out sluggishly hitting multiple double faults and struggling to find any rhythm on serve. As he relinquished the break and continued to underestimate the quality of his opponent, Sock became more and more frustrated, while Groth raced out to an early 3-0 lead. After finding his serve in the fourth game Sock began to gain some momentum as things would continue on serve, however, it was too late and Groth, winning 90 percent of his first serve points, would use his greater consistency to take the first set.
In the second set, Sock seemed to regain some composure as he rose up for a smash in the opening point of the game and seemed to begin to take control of the points. Although his play seemed to be improving, Sock began to look a bit battered as he called the trainer to take a look at his finger after holding to go up 3-2. Sock was able to battle back and fight through the pain. Despite regaining some of his firepower, Sock’s inconsistency and Groth’s inability to capitalize on the large points allowed the set to continue on serve until the 9th game of the set - neither player able to capitalize on his opponent's shortcomings. After serving well the first set and a half, Groth double faulted and botched a few simple volleys and allowed Sock, who was able to win 93 percent of his first serve points in the set, to level the match at a set a piece.
Although seeming to find his game and composure in the second set, Sock was unable to maintain his focus, as his frustration grew with the increasing unforced errors. Despite dumping balls into the bottom of the net and struggling to move his feet into position, Sock managed to hold on to serve and capitalize on Groth’s relatively weakness in rallies. In fact, after winning a quick point in the fourth game, he went as far as to say “the guy cannot hit two balls in a row”. Sock’s lack of respect for Groth seemed to fire Groth up and allowed him to break Sock in his next service game. In the following service game, Sock became clearly agitated and responded with two immature acts. In the first he picked up the ball off a missed Groth first serve and hit it roughly in the direction of a ball girl, receiving a warning for his actions. In the following point, he attempted to fire a pop up ball from Groth directly at Groth. To the delight of the singing Aussie fans, Groth was able to ignore Sock’s childish actions and go up two sets to one.
Carrying his momentum from the third set into the fourth, Groth continued to pound the ball and serve at a very high rate as Sock’s dejected attitude caused him to struggle to win points on serve. After another visit from the trainer for his left index finger, Sock seemed to give up, as Groth was able to break two times in the final set to take the set and the match in two hours and twelve minutes of play.
If Sock hopes to become a better player, he will need to mature and reevaluate his approach to the game and his opponents. For Groth, this is a win that he should relish as he looks to increase his world rankings. As long as he is able to hit his huge serve and pick the right times to come into net, Groth will set himself up for future success. In his next match, he will face another young player, his compatriot James Duckworth, who is coming off a tough five set match.