Korda keeping it in the family

Rising star Sebastian builds on his parents' and sisters' elite legacy with deep run at Rolex Shanghai Masters

Born and raised in a household of elite athletes and champions, Sebastian Korda has finally earned himself bragging rights at the family table.

The rising star of American tennis, who once described himself as "the worst athlete" of the family, is now the pride of his former tennis-pro parents and two golf-star sisters after enjoying plenty of success lately on the men's professional circuit, including in China this month.

Last week, the 23-year-old Florida native reached the semifinals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters — his third straight run to at least the last four of an ATP tournament and his first semifinal appearance at a top-flight 1000 event.

Korda's deep run in Shanghai, following a runner-up finish in Astana two weeks ago and a semifinal appearance in Zhuhai on Sept 25, proved his elite credentials, with his ranking reaching a career high No 23 on Monday.

As their youngest child, his recent ascent will surely please his parents. His dad, Petr Korda, is a former ATP world No 2 and the 1998 Australian Open champion, while his mother, Regina Rajchrtova, used to rank as high as No 26 on the WTA Tour and represented her native country — then Czechoslovakia — at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Sebastian, though, insists he does not feel any pressure to live up to his parents' achievements on the court.

"In the end, we're all doing kind of what we love to do. Tennis is something that I just love doing. It doesn't matter if it's playing, watching, I watch tennis all day long, basically. I just really enjoy being here, really enjoy playing tennis," he said after ousting fellow American Ben Shelton in the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals at Qizhong Tennis Center on Thursday.

"Same thing with my sisters, they love doing what they're doing. I don't think there's any pressure with it," he added.

As the eldest child of the family, Jessica Korda started playing golf, her father's hobby in retirement, at the age of 8 and has won six titles on the LPGA Tour. Her younger sister Nelly is the world No 4, with eight LPGA titles, including a major win at the 2021 Women's PGA Championship, and an Olympic gold (Tokyo 2020) to her name.

Those are lofty standards to follow, but Sebastian has his own motivation to keep improving.

"Obviously, I would love to be better than my dad. My ultimate goal in tennis is to win two Grand Slams, one more than my dad," he said.

"That's just, you know, little things like that, but I don't think there's any pressure. I just really love playing tennis, and just really having a lot of fun right now."

Korda appears to be getting closer to his major championship dream, reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals in January, when he was forced to retire in the third set against Karen Khachanov due to a wrist injury that subsequently sidelined him for three months.

He has not completely shaken off that wrist problem, revealing he often chooses to play through the pain.

"It's just something that will come, I've just got to play a lot more matches, a lot more practices and hopefully it becomes normal again," said Korda, who won the Australian Open boys' title in 2018 just five days shy of the 20th anniversary of his father's 1998 victory.

He reckons growing up in a family where the demanding and dramatic nature of pro sports is just part of everyday life helps him deal with challenges he faces in his career.

Such resolve was much in evidence during his third-set tiebreaker against Shelton. The big-serving Shelton fired a whopping 17 aces, but it was the calmer and more resilient Korda who prevailed — 6-7(10),6-2, 7-6 (6) — despite letting slip five match points in the decider.

"That's probably one of the biggest things of having a father who played tennis was to kind of understand certain moments. I think in those certain moments you've got to stay really calm," Korda said.

"Both my parents taught me to always believe in yourself, no matter the situation, to just really go after it.

"Whatever happens, happens ...it's still a super nervous moment, for sure, but in those moments you really do enjoy them, you just want to be on the victory side of things."

Despite their competitive nature as pro athletes, the three siblings' close-knit relationship has played a big part in their success.

Jessica and Nelly have a group text chat with Sebastian that they use every day to connect. The chat, aptly titled "The Trio", works as a support system, Sebastian explained. Sometimes the group chat is a welcome distraction the night before a big match; other times it is simply about reassurance.