KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — American doubles Grand Slam champ Jack Sock is among the tennis men's pros committed to playing next month's Knoxville Challenger on the University of Tennessee campus.
The tournament released the official player acceptance list Wednesday morning. The annual event will be Nov. 4-10th and benefits the Helen Ross McNabb Center.
Other well-known names on the acceptance list include Canadian Vasek Pospisil, American Donald Young and Marius Copil of Romania.
The highest ranked player set to play is American Tommy Paul, ranked No. 81 and previously a quarterfinalist at the 2017 Citi Open held every summer in Washington, D.C.
Sock, who recently turned 27, has been ranked as high as No. 8 in the world in men's singles and as high as No. 2 in the world in men's doubles. His current singles ranking is 217.
He's won several Slam doubles titles including mixed open doubles at the 2011 U.S. Open with Melanie Oudin, men's doubles with Pospisil at Wimbledon in 2014, and the 2018 Wimbledon and U.S. Open doubles titles with doubles specialist Mike Bryan.
In his career he's won more than $10 million.
2019, however, has been a difficult year for Sock. He suffered a broken thumb that required surgery in February. He's only 1 and 4 in singles matches and 10-6 in doubles matches this year, according to the ATP.
Sock excels on clay and hard courts.
Last week he played in the Northbay Healthcare Men's Pro Championship in California. This week he's playing in Las Vegas.
Total tournament prize money is $50,000 for the Knoxville USTA Pro Circuit event.
Last year's winner was Reilly Opelka, a near 7-footer who is from Michigan.
The challenger is a means for lower-ranked, rising players to get more court playing time with other pros and to earn a shot at ranking points.