By E.J. Crawford, USTA.com
Jack Sock continued his 2017 surge this week in Delray Beach, Fla., claiming his third career title and his second of the year. With the crown, Sock is poised to crack the Top 20 and establish a new career-best ranking.
Sock did not drop a set in advancing to the Delray Beach Open final, dispatching Radu Albot, former Top 25 player Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, No. 5 seed Steve Johnson and Donald Young. The Nebraska, seeded third, claimed the title on Sunday when top seed Milos Raonic was forced to withdraw with a hamstring tear in his right leg.
“I’m sure Milos would have loved to play, but you’ve got to look ahead with some big tournaments coming up,” Sock told atpworldtour.com, referring to Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami, among others. “If you try to play with something that’s tweaked or a little hurt, it can only get worse. I can speak from surgery that I had a few years ago with my pelvis. I played on it for five extra weeks and tore it completely.”
The ATP projects that Sock will rise to No. 18 when the new rankings are released on Monday. His previous best was No. 19, established earlier this month following Sock’s title in Auckland and his run to the third round at the Australian Open.
Overall, Sock is now 11-1 on the year in singles. In addition, he led the U.S. to the Hopman Cup final and past Switzerland in the first round of Davis Cup play.
“I’m playing these tournaments every week to try and win,” he said. “Tennis-wise, physically and mentally, I think I’m ready to make that jump and my tennis is speaking for itself. I need to just keep doing all of the right things to keep moving forward.”