Sebastian Korda recalls how Novak Djokovic made him switch from hockey to tennis in 2009
The American player reveals how Novak Djokovic's 'completely packed' match in the 2009 US Open made him switch to tennis from hockey
Sebastian Korda, Novak Djokovic
Sebastian Korda, the 22-year-old American, is having the best time of his life at the 2023 Australian Open. The Florida resident has secured his place in the quarterfinals of the year’s first Grand Slam. He is now looking forward to winning his Major in the coming days.
In his path to the quarterfinals, Korda defeated some of the big names in Melbourne in last week. World No. 8 Daniil Medvedev is the most prominent one among his victims. The American, ranked 31st currently, defeated the Russian star in straight sets, shocking the whole tennis fraternity.
Korda comes from a family of athletes. His father, Petr, won the 1998 Australian Open and reached the French Open final once. Sebastian’s older sisters Jessica and Nelly are both LPGA golf professionals. His mom too is a retired tennis pro. In his early days, Korda played competitive junior ice hockey before switching to tennis. Now he opened up about what made him switch to tennis from ice hockey.
“I played ice hockey until I was 10 years old. We had a really good team. We always had like the best guys. For the year 2000, we were the No. 1 in the U.S. We had a couple of players on our team that got drafted into the NHL,” Korda said about his ice hockey days.
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Novak Djokovic was the reason behind Sebastien Korda’s switch to tennis
Given the success he is having Down Under, many of the fans believe the legacy of his father would be the biggest force behind Korda. But the 6 feet 5 inches tall player revealed that it was the Serbian icon, Novak Djokovic who inspired him to choose a tennis career in 2009. This switch happened after his trip to the 2009 US Open, where his current head coach Radek Stepanek played Novak Djokovic at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the fourth round.
“I switched over because I went to the US Open in 2009 with my dad and Radek,” Korda said. “He made the round of 16 I think it was. He played Novak on Arthur Ashe at 10.30 at night, completely packed. I went back the next day and I said, ‘This is what I want to do.’ I fell in love with the energy of the crowd, the way the sport is played, and how mental it is. Yeah, just the rest is history,” he explained.
In the quarterfinals, Korda will lock horns against Karen Khachanov, current World No. 20. Korda will be hoping to continue his winning streak for the next few days to win the title in Melbourne Park 25 years after his father did the same.
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Abhinavendu Singh
(290 Articles Published)