I love Hewitt's facial expression. It says so much in so little time: "Wait. What? You're saying it's in? Really? No. You're taking the piss. You're *not* taking the piss. Call it? Really? Okay... okay..."
What's amazing about this is that it is unusual. I've had many arguments with friends about the duties of sportsmanship. My position is that if you know the official is wrong, you say something. I am typically shouted down with "that's why we have officials, it's their job". True, but the reason we have officials is that players may cheat. Skip the middleman and be honest about it.
+Kevin Stevens That Is one of the things I really like about tennis too. Usually really good sportsmanship because most players grew up making their own calls.
+Snowboundless I grew up playing competitive juniors and making your own calls in no way induces good sportsmanship. lol Their were so many cheaters trying to boost their rankings for those elusive college scholarships.
+Douglas Edwards I agree that it does not induce sportsmanship in and of itself. Rather, you speak to my point that we have officials because people cheat.
+Kevin Stevens I agree with your point. My original comment was in disagreement with what snowboundless said. In regards to your comment, I've had the exact same argument with my friends as well, many of them being soccer and waterpolo players. They all feel that all is fair as long as you don't get caught by the official, and they all completely hate the idea of technology assist because it would hinder their "skill" in hiding illegal plays. I think that this mentality is detrimental to sports and changes the game from the way it was originally designed to be played; hence the whole set of rules that each sport has.
+Kevin Stevens Fully concur Kev. I did the same as a teen in Basketball, in a similar situation. Nobody understood it, coach, teammates, my dad, even...my bloody girlfriend then didn't agree. And i was too young and not wise enough to feel something like pride. I didn't even know why i did it. Now i'm old enough to know the simple reason: I HATE CHEATING ! ;-)
+92brunod Nope. Because if you have ever played tennis in an amateur context you know that it is a sport that gives you hundreds of chances to improve your character and learn to lose. It's a sport that values trust and sportsmanship above all else. I love that it seems to be a sport that pits you against another person, but in reality it's a sport that makes 'you' your own greatest challenger. Jack Sock demonstrated that he understands that concept very well and demonstrates exactly why I personally love tennis! Anything else you care to ask?
+scratchfg212 Then why has this gone viral if this is supposedly a common occurrence in tennis? not many people would do what he did and thats why this has gotten so much attention + the comment below says "Been playing tennis since the late 70's never seen anyone do that!"
Absolutely amazing!!! The guy even smiled as he practically said "go ahead, beat my ass... it is only fair that you do because you clearly deserve to!" Moments and personalities like Sock's are exactly the reason I compete in sports (with no success though)
Jack Sock is his own man, and has gone about his career in his own path, and he is going to be something special. This was one special thing. May sportsmanship reign
Has there ever been a game of tennis where someone didn't win...? There are two players - it's a no brainer. Someone will 'win' and someone will 'lose'. I don't go to a tennis match to see a person win - I go to see two people become greater as they struggle against one another. Sometimes - like here, you get lucky and you see something really special. When everyone wins, even the spectators. I wish I was there instead of only seeing it on RU-vid
This is what MOST sports are missing....Good Wholesome Competition. A person/team scores and all they wanna do is knife to the throat gesture and lack sportsmanship in winning AND losing. (also feel sports need more technology for ref'ing since many make bad calls and those bad calls STICK) Kudos to this guy ;)
For those who don't understand or can't hear what's happening: Basically, Hewitt (guy with backwards cap) serves the ball, and the line judge/official calls it out of bounds. Sock (the other guy) thinks the ball was in, and advises Hewitt to challenge the call. The high-speed camera footage reveals that the ball was indeed in, resulting in Sock losing the point. Very good sportsmanship from Sock.
One of the reason Hewitt is a total legend is that he has one of the best attitudes of any sportsman in history - competitive and driven, but at the same time showing respect for his opponent and the game with a strong sense of fair play and good sportsmanship. That's why he looks like he's having an orgasm - think he's in heaven at meeting another pro with his sensibilities! Jack Sock just won another fan in me today - let's hope he has the talent to be a true replacement for Roddick as USA no.1.
+Steven Simons Yeah...especially Serena Williams! LOL ...threatening line judges and stuff...Do not not try to equal one man of his own to the whole nation! That is the most stupid thing one can do! Jack is a man of his own, a great example of sportsmanship and fair play! But he's just one man, not the whole nation! Try not to forget it next time you try to generalize the deed of single individual and equal it to the whole nation!...
+Steven Simons Besides i don't recall too many american players, who would show this kind of sportsmanship! C'mmon now genius, enlighten me and give the names of other american players (both men and women), whom you've seen doing something similar?...
+Steven Simons Many? Come on then, give us a few more recent examples of American tennis players doing anything that could be described as good sportsmanship...
+Summon256 Tim Smyczek was probably the greatest sportsman of 2015. A lot of people held Mardy Fish in high regard for returning to the tour despite anxiety difficulties and being fully open about his problems. And putting down Serena for something she did years ago? Come on man, Serena has been nothing but class in recent years and has done a ton for the game and even the world through her charity initiatives. Of course not all American players are great sportsmen, but there are plenty of class acts.
+The Hoax Hotel What are the odds I see you commenting! IM a HUGE!!! FAN!!! If I could get a reply back That would be lovely! Keep up the great and hilarious Scammer Videos!
+john paul To be honest, people who don't play basketball don't understand how it feels like playing it. In a contact sport such as basketball, all emotions run high. ALSO, you are limited to a number a fouls. What really ruins games are flops.
+Today With PBAndJ Same goes for my girlfriend , the rest of the mighty males here are too afraid to give you a thumbs up, they probably fear that their wifes/girlfriends find out about it ;-D
Not all. There are honest and good footballers too. I cannot recall the teams playing, but I know of one example where a penalty was called in favor of a team that was already winning by a few goals. The winning team told the ref it was not a penalty despite the fact that they would have benefited from it. The ref insisted they take the penalty shot, so they did but as an act of defiance and honest sportsmanship the penalty taker purposefully hit the ball nowhere near the net.
Oh yeah, not saying there aren't. It's just sad when that sort of thing is the exception over the trend. I've actually met some really great football players. Though, my favorite is when a fresh player got red-carded in his debut and the opposing team tried to comfort him. If I recall, he slipped and wound up sliding into another player, and the ref thought it was intentional. But yeah, I was more referring to the general trend by comparison. Still plenty of good players in every sport.
Alex Endr Imagine if Kyrgios were in the shoes of Hewitt, he would shout all over the court "Thanx Jacky, after the game i "challenge" your girlfriend too ;-D"
King Without A Crown rofllll Nick is other worldly talented but he is akin to being the guys everyone likes to hate.. he needs to drop the bad boy justin bieber image and just focus on tennis he can reach the level of a nadal or djokovic if he just motivated himself more. nick constantly says in interviews that he doesnt like tennis that tennis isn't his favorite sport that he would much rather be a basketball player like i don't understand that aussie
Alex Endr First of all i agree that Nick is talented, no doubt about this. But like you said, he leaves no chance to remind us that Basketball is his real passion. Even though i also played in a team once (had to stop on competitive level because of my bloody back, like Churchill said "Sport is murder" ;-D) i can understand him partially cause i played a bit of tennis too and Basketball was much more thrilling for me too. BUT...Nick is a PROFESSIONAL now, so it's ridiculous to repeat his wish all the time. Once he even said that his mum forced him to be a tennis player. So this guy is playing with a real trauma i guess, like "i don't like this lousy job, but somebody gotta do it" ;-D It's a shame cause he really have skills and the fighting spirit to kake it in the top 10, if not more. Btw on paper he's an Aussie, but his father is Greek, his mother from Malaysia, i don't know what a mentality you have with such a combination of blood (and i don't mean it in a racist way or something like this). Sorry about eventually spelling mistakes, i'm German (Kraut ;-D) and english is just my third language ;-)
& another thing - credit to Jack Sock but honesty & integrity are absolute basics - its a sad day when we're putting people on a pedestal for displaying it.
+Dom Andrew What do you mean you disagree? You've basically just agreed with what i'm saying or are you saying honesty & integrity aren't absolute basics?
+Philip H I think he's saying that those attributes are basics but people don't have those basics anymore. Kind of like how common sense isn't so common
notice it when he said "that was in, if you want to challenge it" everyone laughed at him like he was the most stupid man living on this planet while in fact he was doing the most honorable act maybe one of the reason why people tend to act callously but then again he made me re-think about being nice to everyone after watching the entire video.
I think you're looking at it too cynically. From the way I see it, people are laughing because they can't believe it. Sportsmanship is pretty much down the drain these days and what Jack Sock did was a pleasant surprise. People are laughing because they are happy to see something like this happen before their very eyes. And his honestly has won him praise and new fans from around the world.
