'Centre Court Was Awesome', But Korda Wants More With Agassi's Help
Sebastian Korda said that playing — and winning — on Centre Court Friday was extremely special, so much so that he “almost brought out my phone to just start recording” his walk out at The Championships.
“I hear stories all the time about how incredible the Centre Court is, how incredible the fans are. To finally get to experience that today, it was awesome,” said the #NextGenATP American, who defeated British 22nd seed Daniel Evans 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 for a place in the Wimbledon fourth round.
“I almost brought out my phone just to start recording. All the years that I've watched tennis, they always show how the players are walking through all the rooms, then walking down the stairs. I just thought to myself, ‘This is nuts. What's about to happen is going to be something I'm going to remember for the rest of my life'.
“I felt so comfortable out there [and] the fans, and everyone were crazy. They were super loud. They were super into it. They were trying to pump up Dan as much as they could. But I stayed calm in the biggest moments, and it worked out really well today.”
Starting the season at No. 119 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, Korda is now up to No. 50 and in strong contention for a place at the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held in Milan from 9-13 November. He captured his first ATP Tour title at the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma (d. Cecchinato) in May.
Korda, who advanced to his first tour-level final at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com (l. to Hurkacz) in January, credits a lot of his progress to his sporting family, which includes his father, 1998 Australian Open champion and former World No. 2 Petr Korda.
“I wasn't expecting all this, I guess you could say, success so early,” said Korda. “My parents were always so big into just baby steps, baby steps… I have them to thank, because the journey I took is a lot different than everybody else. I think I appreciate things a little bit more because I've been at the lowest level of tennis, I've built my way up.”
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Korda and his father also spent two weeks in Las Vegas last year with former World No. 1 Andre Agassi, the 1992 Wimbledon, and his wife, Steffi Graf, who won 22 Grand Slam singles titles.
“I've been talking with Andre for probably about a year now,” said Korda. “We started around this time last year. My Dad kind of set it up. He's been awesome. We spent 14 days together in [Las] Vegas. He welcomed me into his family.
“We talk basically every single day, every single match about how I'm feeling, what I should do. But the most important thing he told me yesterday was just to enjoy it. ‘It's your first time on Centre Court at Wimbledon, just enjoy it, embrace it, have a lot of fun.’”
On Monday, eight days since his sister Nelly captured her first golf major at the Women’s PGA Championship and rose to World No. 1, Korda will be hoping to celebrate his 21st birthday in style with victory over Russian 25th seed Karen Khachanov at the All England Club.