Jack Sock, who had been sidelined since the beginning of the season following surgery, played and won his first match of 2015 against Yen-Hsun Lu in three sets. But the 22-year-old says he was glad that he missed the tour during January because his brother, Eric, had been in an ICU on life support with bi-lateral pneumonia.
Eric is now much better and drove with him to Indian Wells.
“He's feeling better now. It was a crazy time,” Sock said. “He's a warrior to get through that. It didn't look promising there for a little bit, and he was able to battle through. Now he's able to kind of get back to some of the things he likes to do, play a little tennis, play a little golf. It's kind of just starting back at the beginning now strength-wise and everything, getting it all back. When you're in ICU for three weeks and on a ventilator for a week you lose a lot.”
Sock wrote 'For Eric' on the bottom of his shoes for the match.
Currently ranked No. 58, Sock tore a muscle in his pelvis in the offseason and had to have surgery. He also won the 2014 Wimbledon doubles title with Vasek Pospisil.
“Ranking-wise I don't really put an exact number on it,” he said about his goals for this season. “For me right now, just trying to win my first title would be a good start and make me pretty happy. I have tasted that success a little bit on the doubles side and played deep in some draws. It kind of just motivates you doing the singles side as well. I had a couple good tournaments last year making quarters, semis of some 250s and 500s. So for me, the goal right now kind of I think is to hopefully get my first title this year.”