It is rare that a player celebrates a milestone birthday on the same day they bid to make a Grand Slam breakthrough but that is what happened to Sebastian Korda at Wimbledon.
On his 21st the American had a shot of reaching the quarter-finals in what was his debut at The All England Club. Standing in his way was the more experienced Karen Khachanov who is four years older than him and ranked 21 places higher. The showdown between the two turned out to be a nail-biter with the Russian holding his nerve to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 10-8, after almost four hours of play. In the fifth set there were 13 breaks of serve alone which is a new tournament record.
“I’m still super happy with how the whole tournament and today went. I fought my hardest,” said Korda. “I don’t know what was happening out there. We just couldn’t hold serve. We were playing some clutch tennis when we needed it, both of us. Hats off to him. He played a great match.”
The son of former Australian Open champion Petr Korda, the rising star is already successfully following in his father’s footsteps. His accolades already include becoming the third male player in the Open Era to reach the fourth round of both Wimbledon and the French open on their debut. Overall, he has played in just three Grand Slam main draws.
Prior to Khachanov, Korda knocked out seeded players Alex de Minaur and Dan Evans at Wimbledon. Now he has marked his 21st at the event, his hope is that there will be plenty more occasions in the future.
“Ever since I decided to play tennis I always dreamed about having my birthday here at Wimbledon. I’d have a really good week.I had my first birthday here. Hopefully many more. It was an awesome day today,” he said.
As it currently stands Korda is projected to rise to a ranking best of 46th in the world next week. The time last year he wasn’t even in the top 200. He is the fifth youngest player in the ATP top 100 after Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
“Hopefully I can learn from the mistakes that I made and use it for the next time I’m in the fourth round. Last time I was in the fourth round (at the French Open) I didn’t win a set,” Korda reflected.
“I played my first-ever five-set match. It was a whole new experience for me. I’m just learning. Every tournament I’m learning new things and it’s probably the best thing I could do for myself right now.”
As Korda’s Wimbledon journey ends, Khachanov faces Denis Shapovalov in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
