That the Korda are gifted for sports seems to be beyond doubt. Dad Petr is the Australian Open tennis champion and was once Number 2 in the ATP ranking, mum Regina was an Olympic tennis player in Seoul 1988 and reached 26th place in the WTA, sister Jessica has won six tournaments on the LPGA Tour and the other sister Nelly… what can we tell you that you don’t already know: World Number One, five consecutive victories, thirteen victories, two Majors…
The youngest of the saga is Seb, he is 23 years old, two less than Nelly, and he is trying to elbow his way through his family to make his own name in tennis. Things are going well for him, although compared to his sisters and father he still has a long way to go. He has won an ATP tournament and his best result in a Major was the quarterfinals he reached in Australia last year.
Seb is in Madrid this week playing the Mutua. Today he has a tough match in the round of 16 against Medvedev. In one of his interventions on the tournament’s twitch, he talked about golf and the influence of his sister Nelly. He reveals that she is truly an inspiration, what his weak point is in the sport of the 14 clubs and how eager he is to also be talked about in the family chat. Very nice.
Seb Korda is also a great golfer, although he has not reached the level of his sisters. “Currently my handicap is not very good. At my best I have been 3 or 4. If I learned to putt (laughs) I think I would greatly improve my handicap, but it’s horrible and it’s the worst part of my game,” he says. Of course, more than once or twice he has competed with his sisters. “I play more with Nelly because we live closer… And yes, she gives me a good beating,” he points out.
Precisely, about the influence that a World Number One can have on him, Seb is clear: “What Nelly is doing is incredible, a great inspiration for me, to try to be better every day. I hope I can get a little closer to her level. In the family chat group now only she is talked about,” he says with a wide smile.
In this sense, the tennis player values Nelly’s ethic of sacrifice. “My sister is one of the most committed athletes to what she does, she works very hard, prepares with great intensity, has a great mentality, is a fighter and never gives up. She has a great ability to overcome herself over and over again. I am very proud of her. She had a very complicated operation because of the clot and thank God she has recovered very well. She has had a long journey back also to try to regain confidence, I think she has put a lot of work and mentally she has made a great effort. She is a great champion,” he says.
Seb assures that his father Petr also beats him in golf, “especially because he knows how to putt, he is scratch and plays the PNC Championship of the PGA Tour with Nelly every year. I hope they continue to play it for many more years”. Similarly, he is full of praise for Jessica and her role as a mother. “She is doing great, it’s incredible to see her in this transition and in this new stage and she is doing amazing. However, my sister Nelly sees my nephew a bit more than I do.”
Finally, Seb knows he has a pending match with Rafa Nadal… in golf. “I’ve talked to him about playing, but the fact is that it hasn’t happened yet, but we will play. The only problem is that next year he is going to have a lot more time to play golf and he is going to keep improving a lot,” he jokes.
