Sebastian Korda: I can keep up and play with the biggest names in tennis

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Sebastian Korda: I can keep up and play with the biggest names in tennis

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday April 1, 2021

Sebastian Korda’s rapid rise up the ATP Rankings—from 225 on August 24, 2020 to a projected 64 in Monday’s rankings—has a lot to do with the American making the most of his time during quarantine. Korda told reporters that he took full advantage of the time off and spent long hours at the tennis court located close to his house.

“I just got in a lot of reps, and I think that really shows in my game right now that I'm a lot more consistent, I can keep up with these bigger guys. Yeah, I think that's one of the biggest thing things,” he said.

Korda has also demonstrated a selectiveness when it comes to scheduling. He hasn’t chased ATP points but instead has chosen to grow his game at the futures and challenger level. Even this year, after reaching the final in Delray Beach, he elected to skip out on the Australian Open (and the crazy quarantine that came with it) in order to play challengers in Europe. He picked up a title, and a ton of confidence.

“I think also skipping out on Australia was also a really big thing for me, getting a lot matches,” he told reporters on Thursday in Miami, after falling to Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals. “I'm match fit. When I have a lot of matches under my belt I play some really good tennis.”

The Takeaway – Comfort Against Top Players

Korda proved that he can play with the ATP’s best this week, where he won his first Masters 1000 match and also claimed his first Top 20 (d. Fognini) and Top 10 (d. Schwartzman) win. Even on Thursday against world-beating Rublev, he didn’t look out of place one bit.

“I think just how I kind of feel comfortable playing against these bigger guys,” he said. “I mean, this week showed me that I can keep up and play with the biggest names in tennis. So it was a really positive week both in singles and in doubles. I had a lot of fun in doubles with my partner, Michael Mmoh. And, yeah, I will take a lot from this and hopefully I can play some good tennis on the clay now.”

Rublev Impressed

Other players are most certainly taking notice of Korda’s Game. Diego Schwartzman compared him to Tomas Berdych. Rublev also had praise for Korda on Thursday night.

“Sebastian is a really great player,” he said. “He's really talented. He have big shots and he feel confident and he go for them. Most of them he's making it. So in the end, that's why he's great. He have a big serve. Really great at the net. He's smart. And, yeah, he play aggressive. He try to take the lead and go for the shots. That's why he beat so many great players.”

Rublev told reporters that he knows Korda’s father, former World No.2 Petr Korda, well, and even got some pointers from him when he was a teenager.

“I mean, his father is really smart,” he said. “He knows really well about tennis. He teach him really well. You can see that he have really great technique. He have really easy shots, easy movement. I saw his matches. I practiced with him last year at the US Open. I saw his matches. I saw how he was playing this week, so I'm not really surprised. He's really talented, and I just wish him all the best.”

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