Sebastian Korda remembers when he was a junior running around the grounds of the Mubadala Citi DC Open. His father, Petr Korda, coached Radek Stepanek, the 2011 champion
Now 'Sebi' is not running around the lounge and locker room, but attracting fans to the court with his powerful game. The 23-year-old is the eighth seed this week at the ATP 500 event.
“Washington has to be one of my favourite stops definitely on tour, just kind of being here as a 12, 13 and 14-year-old kid with my dad and Radek Stepanek,” Korda told ATPTour.com. “Just to kind of experience everything was really cool. Being in the locker room for the first time and just being around the players, I have a lot of great memories from this tournament. It's definitely very special.”
On Sunday, the American was cooling down on a bike in the players’ gym when he noticed a photo of his mentor, former World No. 1 Andre Agassi, on signage outside.
“I sent him a selfie with me and him with the plaque in the back,” Korda said. “He's just a very special person to me. He's obviously kind of tennis royalty in a way and just to have someone like that in my corner, I think it's pretty special.”
Agassi coincidentally played Korda’s father, Petr, in the 1991 Washington final. Agassi won the match 6-3, 6-4 for one of his five titles at the tournament.
“I'm pretty sure Andre was playing night matches every single day and my dad was playing first on at like one o'clock when it was really hot,” Korda said, cracking a laugh. “And I think Andre just smoked my dad in the final.”
Agassi has become a valuable guide for Korda. The 60-time tour-level titlist often watches his mentee’s matches and provides feedback.
“He sees life in a different way than everyone else. He's just a very positive, outgoing person, has a massive, massive heart. He'll do absolutely anything for the people that he's close with,” Korda said. “He's just a really great human being. Just the way that he sees tennis in a way is very different. He thinks about different things from other people. Kind of what he can do to get a bigger advantage in tennis.”
This is the first tournament of Korda’s hard-court swing. The surface typically caters to the American’s powerful baseline game.
“I love playing on the hard courts, especially in the U.S.,” Korda said. “I think it's so much fun to play around here. Everything's super close. All the fans are great. It's just really comfortable being here in a country you grew up in and everything's just super easy.”
Korda began his season on a high by reaching an ATP 250 final in Adelaide, holding championship point against Novak Djokovic before falling short. He then advanced to the Australian Open quarter-finals with wins over Daniil Medvedev and Hubert Hurkacz along the way.
After retiring in the quarter-finals due to an elbow injury, Korda did not play until April in Madrid. He is excited for the rest of the season.
“Started off great and there was kind of a speed bump in the middle, but there are things that you kind of have to go through as a tennis player,” Korda said. “You learn from them and you keep going. I'm grateful for my journey right now and I couldn't be happier to be back playing to a high level again.”
