Jack Sock · Biography

On 5 November 2017, Jack Sock beat Serbian qualifier Filip Krajinović 5–7, 6–4, 6–1 in the final of the Paris Masters, his first final at Masters 1000 level. The title lifted him into the world top ten for the first time and gave him the last place at the ATP Finals in London. Born on 24 September 1992 in Lincoln, Nebraska, Sock is a right-handed American player with a two-handed backhand who won four ATP singles titles and 17 in doubles before leaving the tour in 2023.

Junior years in Kansas

His family moved from Nebraska to Kansas when he was 11. At Blue Valley North High School in Overland Park he finished with an 80–0 singles record and four consecutive state singles titles. In 2010 he won the boys’ singles at the US Open, beating Denis Kudla in three sets, and became the first American to take the junior title in New York since Andy Roddick in 2000. That October he reached No. 22 in the combined junior rankings.

Early Grand Slam titles in doubles

Sock turned professional in 2011 and won a major in his first season: the US Open mixed doubles with Melanie Oudin, beating Gisela Dulko and Eduardo Schwank 7–6, 4–6, [10–8] in the final. In 2014 he and Canadian Vasek Pospisil won the Wimbledon men’s doubles, defeating Bob and Mike Bryan 7–6, 6–7, 6–4, 3–6, 7–5. At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics he won two medals: gold in mixed doubles with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, after beating Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram in the final, and bronze in men’s doubles with Steve Johnson, after a 6–2, 6–4 win over Daniel Nestor and Pospisil.

First singles titles

His first ATP singles title came in April 2015 on clay at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston, where he beat Sam Querrey 7–6, 7–6. That year he also reached the fourth round at Roland Garros and the final in Stockholm, which he lost to Tomáš Berdych. In 2016 he played three more finals, in Auckland, Houston and Stockholm, without winning any of them, and reached the fourth round of the US Open. The breakthrough came early in 2017. He won in Auckland, beating João Sousa 6–3, 5–7, 6–3, and a month later took the Delray Beach Open when Milos Raonic withdrew before the final. That season he also reached the Hopman Cup final and played in the United States’ first-round Davis Cup win over Switzerland.

Paris and London, 2017

Sock arrived in Paris in November 2017 needing a deep run to reach the ATP Finals. In the second round he trailed Kyle Edmund 5–1 in the deciding set and still won. From there he went all the way to the title against Krajinović. In London he beat Alexander Zverev 6–4, 1–6, 6–4 in the round-robin and became the first American to reach the semifinals of the season-ending event since Roddick in 2007. Grigor Dimitrov stopped him there on 18 November, 4–6, 6–0, 6–3. On 20 November 2017 Sock reached his career-high singles ranking of No. 8.

Partnership with Mike Bryan

In 2018 Sock teamed up with Mike Bryan. The pair won Wimbledon, taking the fifth set 7–5 in the final against Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, and then the US Open, beating Łukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 6–3, 6–1. On 10 September 2018 Sock rose to No. 2 in the doubles rankings. In November the pair closed the year by winning the ATP Finals against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, 5–7, 6–1, [13–11]. That year he was also part of Team World at the Laver Cup.

Injuries, farewell and pickleball

After the 2019 Australian Open he tore a thumb ligament and needed surgery, and in 2020 the pandemic halted the tour for about five months. He retired injured from US Open matches against Zverev in 2021 and against Diego Schwartzman in 2022. On 23 September 2022, at the Laver Cup at London’s O2 Arena, Sock and Frances Tiafoe beat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal 4–6, 7–6, 11–9 in the last match of Federer’s career; Team World went on to win the event for the first time. On 27 August 2023 Sock announced that the US Open would be his final tournament, and he played his last match there in mixed doubles alongside Coco Gauff. By then he had already turned to pickleball: in May 2023 he won the mixed doubles at the PPA North Carolina Open with Anna Leigh Waters on his debut, and in August 2023 he signed to play full-time on the PPA Tour.