Sebastian Korda reveals the special role Andre Agassi played in his career
Sebastian Korda recalls playing on the Citi Open’s grounds as a kid and has great memories of early locker room experiences in DC.
Radek Stepanek, the 2011 winner of the Citi Open, was coached by his father, Petr Korda.
Korda is now drawing spectators to the court with his own explosive play.
This week’s ATP 500 competition features the 23-year-old as the eighth seed and he will be in action on Wednesday.
“Washington has to be one of my favourite stops definitely on tour, just kind of being here as a 12, 13 and 14-year-old kid with my dad and Radek Stepanek,” Korda told ATPTour.com.
“Just to kind of experience everything was really cool. Being in the locker room for the first time and just being around the players, I have a lot of great memories from this tournament. It’s definitely very special.”
The American was cooling off on a bike in the players’ gym on Sunday when he saw a poster outside that featured a picture of his idol, former World No 1 Andre Agassi.
“I sent him a selfie with me and him with the plaque in the back,” Korda said.
“He’s just a very special person to me. He’s obviously kind of tennis royalty in a way and just to have someone like that in my corner, I think it’s pretty special.”
Agassi played the lead role in the 1991 Washington final as Petr Korda was the runner-up. One of Agassi’s five Citi Open titles was earned with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Sebastian Korda’s father.
“I’m pretty sure Andre was playing night matches every single day and my dad was playing first on at like one o’clock when it was really hot,” Korda said with a chuckle.
“And I think Andre just smoked my dad in the final.”
Korda says that Agassi’s influence on his game cannot be understated.
“He sees life in a different way than everyone else. He’s just a very positive, outgoing person, has a massive, massive heart. He’ll do absolutely anything for the people that he’s close with,” Korda said.
“He’s just a really great human being. Just the way that he sees tennis in a way is very different. He thinks about different things from other people. Kind of what he can do to get a bigger advantage in tennis.
“I love playing on the hard courts, especially in the U.S.,” Korda added.
“I think it’s so much fun to play around here. Everything’s super close. All the fans are great. It’s just really comfortable being here in a country you grew up in and everything’s just super easy.”
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