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Sebastian Korda French Open 2020
ATP Tennis Players, Tennis News, Tennis Tournaments

‘I can play with the biggest names in tennis’, says Sebastian Korda


Sebastian Korda said he feels comfortable playing against top players after his run to the quarter-finals of the 2021 Miami Open.

The 20-year-old lost to fourth seed Andrey Rublev 7-5, 7-6 (9-7) in the last eight of the ATP Masters 1000 event on Thursday. The 87th ranked American will climb into the world’s top 70 on Monday.

“I kind of feel comfortable playing against these bigger guys,” said Korda in a post-match interview.

“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. I will take a lot from this and hopefully I can play some good tennis on the clay now.

“I think one of the best things was the break that we had. It helped me really focus on my body, and fortunately we had a tennis court right next to our house.

“We were all healthy and we were all staying safe. That was a really big thing for me. 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. I think that’s one of the biggest things. But I also think skipping out on (the) Australia (swing) was also a really big thing for me, getting a lot matches. I’m match fit. When I have a lot of matches under my belt, I play some really good tennis.

“I think ever since I was a kid, my mom was really big into kind of having a poker face on court and not showing any negative emotions. Obviously, positive emotions are always great, but I think my mom was really big on that.

“I have her to thank for that, because I think it’s a really (a) big strength for me that the opponent doesn’t really know what’s happening on the other side of the court. I try to use it to my favour.”


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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.