MELBOURNE- The hall of champions that gives access to the Rod Laver Arena bears the name of the Czech Petr Korda. Sebastián, who is walking there for the first time to compete on the track, gives a couple of taps with his right hand to the luminous sign that shows the five letters of his last name next to the number 1998. He also taps that of his mentor , André Agassi, four-time champion in Oceania.
It is the field where the father won the most important title of his life. Two years before the birth of the child. Eldest son and father now have something in common: the best triumphs of both were on the Melbourne Park court named after the Australian legend.
One story from the past and one from the present. Petr Korda swept the 1998 final with the Chilean Marcelo Ríos. And everything Sebastián Korda is doing this week in Melbourne is raising his own bar and bringing him closer to the family’s second Australian Open title.
He beat Daniil Medvedev in his Center Court debut. With touches again as a tribute to his father, this Sunday he surpassed Hubert Hurkacz to get into his first four finals of a Grand Slam.
«It is a great story what we are living today… nobody believes it, but he (Petr Korda) and I have been talking about this for 14 years. It’s impressive,” said agent Patricio Apey in an interview with CLAY last June about the family of athletes. Sebastian’s sisters are golf superstars. Jessica, the oldest, has won six events on the LPGA; Nelly owns eight trophies and was number one.
«Petr, who is half genius and half crazy, told me ten years ago: ‘Everyone talks about Jessica, everyone. And they are stupid. Because Nelly is going to be so much better. And Sebi… if I don’t find a way to screw it up, Seba will be better than me,” Apey recounted.
The Czech, in addition to winning Australia, was number two in the ATP ranking; therefore, the prognosis about his son is ambitious. The manager recounts the way Korda Sr. raised his son in tennis: “He had crazy methods. For example, he didn’t allow Sebastian to play on a hard court. Maximum one tournament per month. He made him train in clay because I wanted him to really learn how to play tennis.”
The young man born in Florida, United States, says that his parents trained him in sports in a different way. «I started playing tennis later than the rest. Several left at the age of three, four or five. Me at 10, because I liked ice hockey. We had clay courts very close to home, so most of my life, when I started, was on clay courts,” says the third-best American on the ATP, behind Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe.
His mother, former Czech tennis player Regina Rajchrtová, reached number 26 in the WTA. Korda jr, registered the box number 30 as his best position, for which he defined himself as the “worst athlete in the family.”
Radek, the ‘big brother’
The “circle of life” is working among the Czechs. Radek Stepanek was trained for 16 years by Petr Korda, and today it is he who guides Sebastián, who is like his ‘little brother’.
In fact, the former Czech tennis player was the inspiration for the Australia 2023 quarter-finalist to pursue a career in tennis.
«I chose tennis after watching Radek with my dad at the 2009 US Open in a night session at Arthur Ashe against Djokovic. Stadium full and a spectacular atmosphere. I fell in love with the energy of the public, the way the sport is played, how mental it is, “Korda details about his impressions at the age of ten.
“Sebi had to go to an ice hockey camp and that time he said:” I don’t want to go, I want to play tennis like ‘Stepi’”, explains the two-time Davis Cup champion.
«Petr can sleep peacefully, I am not going to inject Sebi with anything different from what I learned from him. I have his tennis DNA. Sebi was always a little brother to me, he looks at me as his big brother. It is a very nice thing in life that the circle is working. I am happy to be a part of this, with such a unique family of athletes, where the relationship between brothers is so special,” says Stepanek.
Against the Russian Karen Khachanov, Korda will seek to qualify for the semifinals of the Grand Slam that 25 years ago engraved his last name forever.
