LONDON—Jack Sock, who is aiming to reach the Top 10, says he'd also like to be the player to break the Grand Slam drought among American men.
No U.S. men's player has won at SW19 since 2000, when 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras won the event. (The last American man to win any major was Andy Roddick, at the 2003 U.S. Open.) None of the current American men on tour have reached the semifinals at the majors.
Sock is ranked No. 18 and he has won three titles, but all were 250-level events.
The 24-year-old Sock said that the U.S. players are good friends, but they all want to be the best.
“We are all pretty good friends, I'd say,” Sock said. “Obviously at the end of the day it's an individual sport. Some guys are closer than others. We are all supportive of each other. You can see it on the Davis Cup teams and the Olympic team last year. We are all close. We want to see each other do well. But at the end of the day, it's also an individual sport.
"If there is going to be a next American to win a Grand Slam, obviously I hope it's me. The selfish side of tennis, I hope it's me.”
Sock says that in the fall of 2016, he began playing much better, and started this season by winning Auckland and then Delray Beach.
“I made a goal for me this year, to win more singles titles, and I was able to get two to start the year early on,” he said. “Just trying to build off that.”
Sock said that, eventually, he can crack the Top 10 this season.
“I’m on a pretty good path right now,” he said. “I have a lot of clarity out on court of what I'm trying to do, my style of game. That’s just building strengths. And on court, building in the weight room and the fitness and the mental side of it. Just keep getting stronger in all aspects.”
Sock, who got to the third round in 2016, is the No. 17 seed at Wimbledon. He’ll play Austrian Sebastian Ofner in the second round on Thursday.
