2023 Brings Some Big Changes for Jack Sock
| October 12, 2023
The world of Jack Sock has been pretty wild in the past year.
Think about it, the former top-10 in the world tennis player has gone from tennis to winning a gold medal at a pro pickleball event, back to tennis, retiring from tennis, and then announcing he’s giving pro pickleball and the PPA Tour a try.
Oh, and in between all that, he just revealed through social media, thanks to his wife Laura, that he’s going to be a father.
Quite the journey for the 31-year-old Sock, who recently signed with the PPA Tour. He announced his retirement from tennis last month, after earning nearly $11 million in his tennis career.
He’s already had some success on the PPA Tour, teaming up with Anna Leigh Waters back in May. The pair won the North Carolina Open. Sock also teamed with Tyson McGuffin in the men’s bracket in North Carolina, but the two were bounced out in the first round.
“I think in mixed, he [Sock] can maybe be the best,” said James Ignatowich in a recent interview. “I got good at mixed first [before men’s doubles] and that’s how it is with everyone… you get good at singles, then mixed, then men’s.”
Sock, as well as former professional tennis stars Genie Bouchard, Sam Querrey, and Donald Young, have announced they will play the PPA Tour in 2024.
“If Jack devotes himself to pickleball, I think he will be a top-five player within 12 months,” PPA CEO Connor Pardoe told the Charlotte Observer back in May.
Sock lives in Charlotte, N.C. He has recently returned from a ligament tear in his thumb. As recently as March, Sock and John Isner made the semifinals in doubles at one of the ATP Tour’s most popular spots, Indian Wells, Calif.
“The tennis players that think they’re going to jump over and just kill it, it’s not going to be as easy as some think,” Sock told PPA Tour announcer Dave Fleming before his Charlotte title run. “The top pickleball players are really good. You can’t use your serve to get out of jail in pickleball, and you can’t expect to drill a forehand for a winner from the baseline whenever you want.”
Sock and his wife are expecting a baby boy in December. He’s been playing pickleball for about five years but has devoted himself to the sport recently, even calling himself a “nerd,” when it comes to pickleball study.
Sock achieved his highest tennis rankings of No. 8 in the world in singles and No. 2 in doubles. We’ll get to see how far he can go in pickleball in 2024…
