I FOUND THE MISSING SOCK!

Written by: Staff on 24th July 2012

I FOUND THE MISSING SOCK!

epa02895252 Jack Sock of the US hits a return to Andy Roddick of the US during their second round match on the fifth day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 02 September 2011. The US Open runs through 11 September 2011. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

By: Craig Cignarelli

Competing against Italian-born Flavio Cipolla is like eating a buffet at Dominos – the slices just keep on coming. Tonight, American Jack Sock was at UCLA hitting ball after ball off his racket frame. The Roman stepped back ten feet to return Sock’s 135 mph serves and then spent the night keeping the ball below the net waiting for the tour rookie’s superior racket speed to shank the ball into the back fence. Cipolla juliennes the tennis ball, moving Sock in and out of the pool’s deep end with floating chips and deft drops. When Sock finally managed to stumble to the net, the Italian passed him like he was an ugly hitchhiker.

After missing enough forehands to make Sock question himself, the youngster took to playing the veterans game, slicing his backhand and running more. The problem: Cipolla has enough tools to fill a burrito and Sock looks like he just ate one. The fit ansdwispy Cipolla gets around the court like a jackrabbit, covering both depth and width with Pythagorean mastery. Sock though, looks like he could drop about two dozen lbs. and spend a few months ridding himself of his turtle shell. The hare wins this race.

At one point Sock started shouted something about Cipolla’s lack of talent, and then restrained from finishing the sentence. Lucky for him, too, because Sock is going to need a proctologist to remove the foot Cipolla kicked his ass with. Tonight, the kid took a lesson from a wily veteran. 6-3, 6-1 to Cipolla.

From this writer’s vantage, Sock has some tools – big serve, heavy forehand, consistent if not aggressive returns, and some understanding of point construction. On this evening where L.A. temps dropped to freeway speed limits, he stopped thinking and tried to bull his way through a match, a solution his coaches should address quickly if he wants to succeed on tour.

Topics: Craig Cignarelli, Farmers Classic, jack sock, LA Open tennis news, sports tennis news, UCLA tennis news