It could be forgiven to assume that Sebastian Korda learned all of his skills on the court thanks to his Grand Slam winning father but that is not the case.
The American rising star is the son of Petr Korda, who won the 1998 Australian Open and reached a ranking high of No.2 during the same year. He is now coached on the Tour by his father along with Dean Goldfine and Theodor Devoty. This season the 21-year-old has shot up the world rankings to a current career-high of 45th in the world and won his first ATP title at the Marma Open in Italy.
It isn’t just Korda’s father who has helped him develop his career, somebody else who played just as an important role in his mother who is also a former player herself. Regina Kordová used to represent Czechoslovakia and played in 16 Grand Slam main draws during her career in the 1980s and 1990s. She also participated in the 1988 Olympic Games.
“My mom is probably the person who has shaped all of my strokes and everything because when I switched over from hockey to tennis when I was 10 or 11 years old, my dad was travelling with my oldest sister on the LPGA Tour when she just turned professional,” Korda said following his first round win at the Western and Southern Open.
“Basically I was spending all the time on court with my mom. She basically taught me how to play tennis in a way because she molded my game to what it is today, and I’m really thankful for that.’
“I feel like I have a different game compared to everybody else. She was probably one of the biggest if not “the” biggest influences in my game.”
Whilst saying how he plays tennis is similar to his dad in certain aspects, Korda credits both of his parents for helping him develop a somewhat unique style. Saying from a young age he was taught to play slightly differently.
“I think my dad and my mom, they both taught me to be aggressive, come to the net, and just kind of play tennis a little different way than everybody else is playing, kind of throw in some slices, dropshots, go to the net, serve and volley. I think variety is a really big part of my game, and I’m improving it every day,” he said.
Playing in Cincinnati this week, the world No.45 kicked off his campaign on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-4, win over Serbia’s Laslo Djere. It was the first time he had played a match since being forced to withdraw from Toronto last week due to injury.
“My back is really good right now. It’s holding up. I injured myself a little bit in Washington, and it got a little bit worse, but I still decided to finish the doubles and was hoping to be ready for Toronto, but I just wasn’t 100%,” he explained.
“I was super close, but I knew I would have problems if I did play the match. Kind of went back to the States, recovered a little bit, worked on my back, and, yeah, it’s good so far, no pain, and I’m really happy about it.”
Korda will next take on Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round in what will be their first meeting on the Tour. This season he has already scored wins over top 10 players Diego Schwartzman and Roberto Bautista Agut.
