MIAMI -- The demands of playing tennis at the professional level requires unwavering focus. Attention to detail and an understanding of your opponents' patterns and instincts are paramount to success.
So consider being away from the game for an extended period while your cohorts are busy honing their craft.
Rehabbing and watching tournaments from afar -- it's no fun. And it's alarming. For some players, it takes longer to feel fully rooted in the day-to-day competition than it does to go through the process of rehabilitation.
Such isn't the case for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Jack Sock, both of whom missed the first three months of the season with injuries. Sock returned last week at Indian Wells and competed surprisingly well, reaching the fourth round before falling to Roger Federer. A week later, Sock finds himself in the third round here on Key Biscayne following a convincing 7-6 (4), 6-1 win against the No. 21 seed Fabio Fognini.
For Tsonga, who was making his 2015 debut after pulling out of the Hopman Cup and Australian Open with a persistent arm injury, he knocked out Tim Smyczek 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 behind 11 aces and highlight-reel put-aways.
"I didn't expect to play my best tennis today ever, but I'm happy the way I managed my match," Tsonga said. "I played pretty solid. Hope it's going to be better and better, but [the] first match was already something good for me."
Sitting out the first part of the season was a difficult decision for Tsonga. He has had more success in Australia than any other major. With a 27-8 career record in Melbourne, Tsonga has reached the quarterfinals on four occasions, including a run to the 2008 final.
During that astonishing performance seven years ago, Tsonga decimated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, dropping just seven games in three sets. At the time, Tsonga was relatively unknown. He went in ranked 38th but without any notable achievements on his résumé. Matter of fact, it wasn't until nine months later that he'd win his first title (Bangkok).
Tsonga quickly rose to prominence. Born in Le Mans, France and with Congolese roots, he immediately began to amass attention as a Muhammad Ali doppelganger. And while the physical resemblance is striking, Tsonga's modus operandi wasn't to float like a butterfly or sting like a bee. He rose through the rankings with unrelenting, organic power and outrageous shot-making.
While there hasn't been a predominant go-for-broke paradigm in men's tennis, Tsonga was one of the first to succeed by ruthlessly outslugging his opponents. Even today's top players such as Federer and Novak Djokovic bring a certain amount of counterpunching and/or guile to the court. Nadal can punish his opponents, but he's equally adept at winning by attrition.
Tsonga is now 29 years old, and injuries notwithstanding, he has been in a slow, steady decline. From 2011 to 2014, the Frenchman's ranking fell exactly two spots, and today he is No. 13 in the world. Tsonga hasn't finished a season with a lower ranking since 2007 (No. 43), though it should be noted he was still a part-time player on the ATP Tour at the time.
Against the American Smyczek, Tsonga illustrated his firepower from the outset. In the opening point of the match, Tsonga's first since the Paris Masters in October, he traded a series of bludgeoning groundstrokes before ending it with a screaming inside-out forehand. Up a break at 5-4, Tsonga closed the first set with a terrific down-the-line backhand that his overmatched opponent could only watch pass by.
Tsonga went down a break early in the second set and never recovered, but in the deciding third, he served with greater efficiency (57 percent) and won 11 of the 15 points on his first deliveries. In the end, though, health was the overarching concern.
"Yeah, my arm is feeling better today," Tsonga said. "I'm really happy with that. I hope it's going to continue."
Like Tsonga, Sock also missed the Australian Open. The 6-foot-3 Nebraskan underwent pelvic surgery in December, which kept him out of action until this month.
Despite the loss to Federer, Indian Wells was a significant boost for Sock. Net-savvy as he was before his injury, Sock went on to win the doubles titles with partner Vasek Pospisil, a performance highlighted by a thorough beating of the top-ranked Bryan brothers in the quarterfinals.
For Sock, he has also endured emotional setbacks. Earlier this year, his brother, Eric, contracted a form of pneumonia known as Lemierre's syndrome. What began as a fairly innocuous sore throat ended up with Eric in the ICU and on life support. He spent a week on a ventilator before slowly improving.
Jack Sock, who has Eric's name adorned on his playing shoes, speaks openly of finding inspiration from his brother's plight. Sock's success has been an uplifting narrative for a nation that hasn't produced a serial threat in notable events since Andy Roddick retired in 2012. But even then, Roddick was years removed from his best days circa 2003-2005. Sock, though, says there is promise.
"There are a group of guys inside the top 50 and 100 trying to make push," Sock said after beating Fognini. "We're not going to come out the first two or three years and break into top 10. The U.S. has high expectation, which is fine. John [Isner] has done a great job of keeping us on the map. The better one of us does, the more it pushes the others."
Based on his performance Saturday, Sock needs no outside motivation. As with Tsonga, just being on the court is inspiration enough.