Blue Valley North grad Jack Sock to compete for Team USA in Olympic tennis

Chances are the spoofy, sponsor-driven SOCK 2016 campaign — with its platform of “Let’s rally, America” touting the “leader you didn’t know you needed” — won’t land Jack Sock in the White House.

But at least he’ll get to represent his country at the Rio Olympics, where the Blue Valley North High School graduate will compete in singles and doubles, the United States Tennis Association announced Friday morning.

“I’m very excited to wear the red, white and blue (in Rio),” Sock said in a phone interview from Portland, Ore., where he is competing in the Davis Cup.

Sock, 23, currently is 26th in the ATP World Tour rankings.

Even as some prominent athletes, including Davis Cup teammate John Isner, are opting to skip the Olympics, Sock said it took him approximately one second to say yes to the opportunity.

In addition to striving to bring home medals, Sock said he’s looking forward to “hopefully making a bunch of new friends” from Team USA and around the world.

So it will be his preference to stay in the Olympic Village if possible and to participate in the opening ceremony on Aug. 5, even if his draw is such that he begins competition the next day.

“I can’t really miss that,” he said. “I want to have the full experience.”

Sock does not expect his family to travel to Rio, though, between the sheer expense and what are sure to be “complicated” circumstances and logistics amid the financial and organizational turmoil looming there.

As for the presidential campaign furnished by the Babolat sports equipment company, Sock said he’s been having “a blast” with it ever since the first video — which he sent out by Twitter in March framed thusly: “To date, not a single president was a pro tennis player. Let’s change that.”

This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 9:02 AM with the headline "Blue Valley North grad Jack Sock to compete for Team USA in Olympic tennis."