John McEnroe would point to you the first time he ever won a Slam was on clay.

That is, in mixed doubles.

John McEnroe and Mary Carillo teamed up to win the French Open mixed doubles title back in 1977, the same year he made a dream run to the Wimbledon semis as a qualifier.  McEnroe would then go on to win 7 more Slam titles in singles and numerous doubles titles, but rarely play mixed doubles.

Jack Sock and Melanie Oudin were given a wildcard to play mixed doubles and they made their own dream run all the way to the final.  They upset Bob Bryan and Liezel Huber, the number 1 seed, in the second round.  They got to skip the semis when their opponents didn’t play.

In the finals, they met the 8th seed, Eduardo Schwank and Gisela Dulko, both veterans on the tour.  Surely, the experience of the Argentines would be too much.  After all, Oudin had been on a huge losing streak in singles.  And Sock, while having great success with wins at Kalamazoo in singles and doubles, was still a little raw on the pro circuit having only turned pro a few months ago.

Sock and Oudin won the first set in a tiebreak which was key because if they won the second set, that would be it.  Mixed doubles is played like standard doubles on the pro tour with the third set being played as a champion’s tiebreak (first to ten with a lead of 2).

In the second set, the players held serve until late in the second when surprisingly, Jack Sock, lost his serve at love.  This forced a champion’s tiebreak. The announcers had said, up to this point, Gisela Dulko had been the rock for the team with Schwank being a little more nervous and Dulko being the veteran.

In the champion’s tiebreak, which is first to ten points with a lead of 2, the first person to lose their serve was Melanie Oudin who lost on her first point.  However, she came back and won the second point.  Then, when Schwank served, they were able to get back one of the two points, and be on serve.  Schwank got the second point.

At 5-4 down, Sock hit a serve to Schwank which elicited a high return.  Sock hit the overhead just feet behind Oudin.  At 5-all, they got into a rally when Schwank hit the ball long.  At 6-5 down, Dulko served and Sock aimed for Schwank who mishit the volley to 7-5.

The teams switched side, and after Dulko missed her first serve, Sock stood very close to the T hoping to make Dulko nervous.  Dulko double-faulted.  The Americans were up 8-5.  Oudin served next.  Dulko was able to cut off a shot by Oudin, and volley it to Sock and then volley for the winning point to close it to 8-6.

Oudin hit her next serve to Dulko who sent the ball to Sock who volleyed it to Schwank who netted the ball.  9-6 to the Americans.

Schwank hit a fault, then his second serve was also called a fault, but the Argentines challenged the call and it was in.  Under the rules, when a linesperson messes up a serve call, the server gets two serves.  Early in the tiebreak, the chair umpire used another rarely-used rule.  Schwank hit a volley, but then accidentally touched the net with his foot moments later before the ball bounced twice and lost the point which they thought they had won.  Schwank won this point and so the score was 9-7 with Americans leading.  Schwank hit a serve which Oudin could not return.  9-8 to the Americans.

Finally, Sock was serving for match point.  Sock hit a big serve which Schwank lobbed back, and it went long!

The American duo of Oudin and Sock completed an improbably journey to the US Open Mixed title.  Sock may or may not win any Slams in singles, but he’ll always remember this Slam as the one where he won the first round, got to play American Andy Roddick in the second round, and played into the second week in mixed doubles with Melanie Oudin, with both being teens.