Could Jack Sock Be Returning To Pro Tennis?

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

Could Jack Sock be ditching pro pickleball and return to pro tennis?

Perhaps…

During the “Stars of the Open” exhibition matches on the Thursday before the start of the main draw of the 2025 U.S. Open, Jack Sock was asked in a post-match interview by Andrea Petkovic after competing in a match with 2016 Olympic gold medal mixed doubles partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands if he had eyes on a tennis comeback.

“I would say never say never,” he said. “Whether it is some men’s doubles or maybe mixed with somebody standing up here as well. It could be something in the future. (We could) bring the team chemistry back from almost 10 years now.”

Following the interview, television commentator Rennae Stubs said on ESPN2, “Jack Sock just throwing a little never say never,” she said. “He saw that check for the mixed doubles yesterday and thought ‘Maybe I should get back in this game.’”

Sock and Mattek-Sands famously won the Olympic gold medal in mixed doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics, thus the hint that the two doubles standouts may consider re-grouping for U.S. Open mixed doubles in the future, while also playing other events. The two were center stage at the end of the newly re-imagined U.S. Open mixed doubles event as the two handed out the trophies to the winners, Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori, who also split the first-prize paycheck of $1 million.

Sock gained headlines earlier this summer when he controversially paired with billionaire Bill Ackman in a heavily criticized wild card doubles appearance at the International Tennis Hall of Fame Open Challenger level tournament in Newport, R.I. You can read details of their match here: https://worldtennismagazine.com/an-analysis-of-the-bill-ackman-jack-sock-hall-of-fame-shame-doubles-match-that-almost-made-me-sick/25356 and watch match footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zPE2WVFKWU

Sock, age 32, won 17 doubles title in his career including Wimbledon in 2014 and 2018 and the U.S. Open in 2018. He also won the 2011 U.S. Open mixed doubles title with Melanie Oudin. He announced his retirement from tennis to play pickleball at the 2023 U.S. Open.