7 Responses

  1. anon
    anon May 7, 2013 at 8:28 pm |

    Sock receives more wild cards since he is one of the americans who everyone thinks will be good. he played high school tennis and a lot of coaches are familiar with him. Personally, Kudla is much stronger mentally, and he is a helluva lot nicer than sock. Kudla trains hard and plays smart. Kudla wasn’t born in the US, so possibly that could be a reason. Also, sock has a lot more fans, and a lot of tennis fans know him. Kudla is not very well known by casual fans. GREAT ARTICLE JUAN!

  2. Master Ace
    Master Ace May 8, 2013 at 7:59 am |

    Juan Jose,
    If I recall, was Sock undefeated in high school and did not turn pro until he finished high school? That said, I agree that WC needs to go to veteran players that is coming back from injury.

  3. Thomas
    Thomas May 8, 2013 at 1:38 pm |

    You failed to mention that Sock has big wins over the likes of Raonic, Florian Mayer, and won US Open mixed doubles, as well as making doubs final in ATP events. He also has far more upside than the dimunitive Kudla who is mainly a counter puncher. That should be enought to justify his wildcard opportunities.

    1. Jon
      Jon May 8, 2013 at 6:54 pm |

      Sock does not have far more upside than Kudla, and Kudla is not a counter puncher. Although I can understand these comments considering Kudla hasn’t gotten the wildcards to be on TV much 🙂

  4. Jon
    Jon May 8, 2013 at 6:50 pm |

    I don’t think tournament directors give out Wild Cards for the sake of player development. It’s a director’s job to make the tournament money / do favors for prospects he knows, and Sock is a much bigger name than Kudla at the moment.

    As for it being a hindrance, I don’t know. After Kudla won at Tallahassee, he announced that he was staying with a helpful local family instead of getting a hotel. He also doesn’t play many ATP qualifiers despite his ranking and success at the Challenger level (possibly because he can’t afford it?). I think we as fans make a bigger deal out of a few ATP losses than the players do, and I bet Kudla would trade a few losses for an extra $40k.

  5. Shradha
    Shradha May 9, 2013 at 2:45 am |

    Good point about Sock…its amazing to what extent he has been pushed by USTA. Agree with you about no MD wildcards for youngsters…You gotta earn it!

    About your pet peeve with stats or rather lack of them…well, I think stats play a bigger role in team sports obviously…They make it easier for a coach/manager to identify which part for their game is lacking. Why is it that you have a forward like Messi but can’t goal since you can’t keep ball in opposite half. Which players are off their game. Also while forming their team, these stats play a major role in defining which player will play what part.

    Tennis being an individual sport, is all about feel. Why would Federer look in Ferrer’s serving stats while he knows he lacks any major weapon to harm him. He knows because he is there, playing with him. knows his game. You can use it to asses how your particular shot has improved over the time or against a particular opponent, but most of the time you know it as you are playing. Unless someone changed their shots magically (Gulbis forehand) or playing someone for the first time, stats do mean nothing but numbers for them. Even if somebody is interested, amount of stat can be mind-boggling ( you know it better). It can make you worry about small issues about your own or opponents game. I think tennis stat is more of fan-useful thing than player.

    Also since tennis played is almost everytime in a knockout stage, only stat that matter is W in the end.

  6. Gerald
    Gerald May 11, 2013 at 1:07 pm |

    Excellent, excellent article! Thanks Juan Jose!
    Also, I think a lot of tournament directors give Sock wildcards since he beat Kudla in the finals of the US Open Juniors. They can use that recognizable achievement for advertising. Anyway, for what it’s worth, I think Kudla is a much better player who will have a much better future.

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