Earlier than the Adelaide Worldwide 1 remaining, a number of photographs of a younger Sebastian Korda with Novak Djokovic went viral. Forward of the match, former World No. 1 Djokovic had excessive reward for the 22-year-old American.
“[He is] one of many gamers that has form of the cleanest hanging method that you could see on the Tour. I imply, he is so proficient. Every part appears very flawless with him. Simply easy, not flawless,” Djokovic stated. “The way in which he performs, the way in which he strikes on the court docket, simply beautiful-looking tennis. Going to attempt to make it ugly tomorrow.”
Djokovic added that it’s not a matter of if, however when Korda will crack the Prime 10 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The World No. 31 took discover of the Serbian’s type phrases.
“I noticed that he wished to make my sport ugly,” Korda informed ATPTour.com, cracking fun. “It’s humorous, it’s superior to listen to these nice phrases from him and I’ve gotten a number of nice phrases from Nadal and him. It’s actually form of inspiring to simply maintain pushing ahead figuring out I’m doing the proper issues and simply maintain believing in myself and [knowing that] I’m on the proper path.”
Korda got here near gorgeous Djokovic within the championship match. The Floridian held championship level within the second set, however the 92-time tour-level titlist rallied for a 6-7(8), 7-6(3), 6-4 triumph after three hours and 9 minutes. It was not the primary shut name for Korda, who pushed Rafael Nadal to a final-set tie-break ultimately yr’s BNP Paribas Open.
“Clearly I’ve had my probabilities towards Nadal after which Djokovic, however I’m nonetheless younger and people moments will solely assist me going ahead so long as I be taught from them,” Korda stated. “I believe general there are nonetheless a number of positives to remove from the match. It was very shut, however nonetheless very far.”
One individual lacking from Adelaide was Korda’s new head coach, Radek Stepanek. The Czech star, who cracked the world’s Prime 10 in singles and doubles, hung out in Florida in the course of the offseason and can meet Korda in Melbourne for the Australian Open.
“It’s undoubtedly completely different. My dad coached him for 13 years and now Radek is teaching me. It’ll in all probability find yourself that I’ll coach his daughters in the event that they play tennis after which so on and so forth,” Korda stated. “But it surely’s actually cool. I believe we match completely nicely. He’s the primary coach on my workforce and I even have Martin Stepanek, so a number of nice new additions to my workforce. I believe it’s all been very constructive up to now.”
The images of Djokovic and Korda that went viral got here from a time when Korda would comply with Stepanek on the Tour whereas Petr Korda, Sebi’s father, coached him. Stepanek has lengthy been like household to the Kordas.
“He was my large brother rising up. I solely have two sisters, I by no means had a brother, however he was that man for me. We’d go on household holidays collectively to the mountains to go ski, he’d take me to tournaments. He would take me underneath his wing, take me into the locker rooms, participant eating and simply get used to the tennis participant life-style,” Korda stated. “I believe a number of the success right this moment is due to these moments. I’m very grateful to have been surrounded by him and likewise my dad for all these years rising up.”
Stepanek didn’t pack the highly effective punch Korda did, however he made up for it together with his frequent journeys to the web and court docket sense. What’s he including to the American’s sport?
“I believe simply to see the sport otherwise. He needed to be actually good on the court docket with the way in which he performed,” Korda stated. “He’d come to the web and be aggressive, which is form of what we’re attempting to do with my sport. I believe up to now we’ve put in a number of nice work. It’s been actually displaying.”
That was particularly the case towards Djokovic. The Serbian is among the finest defenders within the historical past of the game, however Korda usually discovered methods to blast via his partitions and take management of factors.
“I believe that’s the way in which you wish to have that feeling on the court docket, that you just’re in management. I believe a number of the matches I play with the gamestyle that I’ve, I’ll be dictating a lot of the matches. So a number of the matches can be on my racquet, and form of simply rely [on] what I do with it. I believe it’s actually large for me,” Korda stated. “Positively you wish to be within the place the place you’re the one dictating and that’s the way in which my sport is constructed and the way it’s going to be constructed going ahead.”
Korda is completely satisfied together with his large week in Adelaide, however is focussed on persevering with to enhance. He sees his efficiency on the Australian ATP 250 as an indication he’s heading in the right direction, and he intends to remain on it.
“Positively in the future at a time,” Korda stated. “However clearly I’d love to complete the yr Prime 20, Prime 15. These are what our eyes are set on and I believe we’ll put a extremely large push into it and hopefully get it finished.”