[ad_1]
American men’s tennis made it depressing last month: there was not a single US player on the ATP tour among the top thirty. Not since the computer order system was introduced, almost half a century ago, things have been so bad, even though things have been pretty bad for some time. The Wimbledon Championships start on Monday and it wouldn’t be shocking if there were no Americans left in the men’s draw, midday sunday, halfway between. Sam Querrey, with his all or nothing food that fits well in the grass, made it to the Wimbledon semi-finals four years ago, but he was thirty-three years old and has collapsed in the first round of this year’s first two big companies, in Melbourne and the United States. Paris. (He is currently ranked 60th.) John Isner (No. 33) has an even higher dose that took him to the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2018, but he is thirty-six and his place in tournament history is likely to remain attached to the first-round match he played in the 2010 French with duel specialist Nicolas Mahut, a match that lasted more than eleven hours and took three days to complete: 64, 36, 67, 76.. . 7068, the longest professional tennis court ever. Reilly Opelka, twenty-three years old and nearly seven feet tall, is also in possession of Thunder’s first service. This week’s No. 32 he is the highest level American man right now and he won the boys ’singles title at Wimbledon in 2015. But none of the Americans who won the Wimbledon juniors have recently won a trophy for adults or recently. , even came close.
Sebastian Korda is the youngest American ATP in the top 100, at the age of 20. Americans who want to see an American grandmaster again talk about him more enthusiastically than any other player. Andy Roddick, the last American man to win a Singlet major at the US Open, in 2003addressed him during a recent Tennis Channel broadcast. I say it on uncertain terms, Roddick said. This is our best American potential for a long, long time.
In January, Korda reached the final of the tournament in Delray Beach, Florida. In the spring, he collected three straight wins among the top ten players at the Miami Open, one of whom finished in the top ten, before losing to Andrey Rubleville, who rose to one of the toughest places during the pandemic. on the men’s side. At the end of last month, Korda won his first clay tournament in the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma and rose to the top fifty; last week in a German turf tournament preparing for Wimbledon, Korda defeated purely Roberta Bautista Agut, Spain’s semi-finalist at Wimbledon, last held in 2019. The winner, who was the highlight reel miracle.) So far this year, Korda has trapped more. other American. He is a newcomer.
It’s not that people expect Korda to run a deep run in Wimbledon. His defeat to Bautista Agut was his first ATP grass field match; he won his first tour level, his main bet on any surface, only last fall COVID-delayed french open. (He also made it to the fourth round of the main drawing and became the youngest American to do it with Roland Garros after Michael Chang in 1991.) More, if you want to attach expectations to any young American in the men’s game, he’s right.
For Korda, playing tennis has meant starting a family business. His father, Petr, was a Czech star. He won the Australian Open in 1998 and became the second best in the world before taking the test for a banned steroid and retired shortly thereafter. Sebastians’ mother Regina Rajchrtov was also a professional. (His two older sisters have also played sports: they are professional golfers on an LPGA tour.) Seb, as he called it, has childhood memories that only come from being born in sports. He recently recalled how his father once brought home a Disney-themed racket given at an Orlando tennis legend event, and how the racket broke in half as Sebastian tried to recover Radek Stepanek’s hit, professional Petr happened to be a coach at the time. At the age of nine, Sebastian watched the professional tennis court from the players box. On Instagram, he posted old pictures of former teens: a shooting pool with Novak Djokovic, posing with Tommy Haas after training.
Kordat makes their home in Bradenton, Florida, but last December, during the off-season, Sebastian spent a couple of weeks in Las Vegas, working with his game with Andre Agass, who was with Pet for a double day. . It proved to be an advanced seminar in reading and understanding for the middle class, Sebastian explained. He said he gets a taste from Agassi for an experience that is not yet old enough or seasoned enough. He sees the game differently than most people, that’s for sure, Korda said. He reads opponents, just to get a sense of how the matches are played. Some of the things he thinks about you could never think of during a match.
It’s hard to know what Korda thinks and feels as he works his way through the match. He brings to his game a steady focus built on a solid technical foundation and designed to win points effectively: flat planes large enough, beaten with enough control to minimize mistakes. (Her only glimpse is the headband she uses to keep her long blond hair out of her face; she says she got it from one of her sisters.) She moves fluidly to a player who is six feet five inches tall, and for now, however, she replaces foresight, balance, and wing size, what he lacks from lateral speed. His service is growing and improving; also his return. There are no big holes in his game. Both he and his father, who continue to coach him, talk about measured goals and determined patience.
The pressure increases. And with the bumps and obstacles that all young tennis players eventually face in injury, fatigue is sure to get in his way. So many promising hopefuls, for so many reasons, end up living for us in perfect ongoing conditional, half-remembered opportunities. So far, Korda is coming, and for those who are watching him and urging him, there are a few more absorbing stories in the sport.
[ad_2]
picture credit