Jack Sock can’t overcome illness, loses in first round of men’s singles as Olympic tennis begins

Jack Sock hopes for an Olympic medal in men’s singles ended on the first day of tennis competition.

Sock, who played in high school at Blue Valley North and was seeded 14th, lost to 118th-ranked Taro Daniel of Japan 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro.

Sock said he was diagnosed with walking pneumonia just before he left for Rio.

He said that he had been sick since the end of his run at Wimbledon in early July. What started as the common cold turned into a cough that just wouldn’t go away.

Sock went to his doctor the night before he departed for Rio, but there was no way he was going to miss his first Olympics. Sock looked as though he had dropped some weight, and he was a little hollow around the eyes, no doubt because of all the coughing and congestion.

“I tried to come down, I wanted the experience, wanted to be part of the Olympics, and obviously went out there and did the best I could,” he said. “Obviously there will be a lot of people who thought that it didn’t look great. But I did what I could. It was tough for me to breathe at times.”

Sock said he still plans to play in men’s doubles with Steve Johnson and possibly mixed doubles.

This story was originally published August 6, 2016 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Jack Sock can’t overcome illness, loses in first round of men’s singles as Olympic tennis begins."