The genes of ex-Grand Slam champion Petr Korda are likely to have passed on in their entirety to his offspring. Because Sebastian Korda, who, in contrast to his father of Czech origin, competes for the USA, is considered to be one of the most promising talents in the tennis circuit worldwide. After all, the 21-year-old is currently in world number 45 and won his first ATP Tour tournament in Parma in May of this year.

At the ATP 500 event in Washington, a childhood dream came true for Korda. Nobody less than Rafael Nadal asked for the hack training talent as part of the hard court tournament. “He's my greatest idol. It's one of the reasons why I play tennis, ”said Korda in an interview with ATP Media last year about the 13-time Roland Garros champion.

"He's a great guy, a complete player"

After the sparring session, the “bull from Manacor” only lost words of praise about the next generation hope: “His game looks good physically, good serve, good strokes from the baseline. I think he's a great guy, a complete player. He will achieve a lot in our sport in the next few years. "

Nadal continued: “I think that since I saw him play for the first time, I believed that he had a chance to become one of the best players in the world. Let's see, it's always the same. I think he has everything he needs to be a top player. But of course it won't be easy and you have to keep developing. ”Small interesting triviality: Korda named his cat after the 20-time Grand Slam champion.