SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC PRESENTED BY ACER

October 2, 2020

Jessica Korda

Seaview, A Dolce Hotel

Quick Quotes

Q. For one, before he left for France, was there really any indication? Did you think -- did you believe that he could make it as far as he's been doing?

JESSICA KORDA: I was like, wait, he left for France? He left for Prague, first.

Q. For Prague first. So what did he do in preparation for France this year?

JESSICA KORDA: He went to visit family and his trainer, his fitness trainer, same one that dad actually used to have.

They been working together for like a year. Yeah, so yeah, just went over there and got ready for clay season. He was basically just preparing himself for U.S. Open and obviously had a tough first match there but was playing great.

So we knew that if he just kept it going, you just never know with tennis. It's luck of the draw. But he's been playing great, so just keep it up.

Q. Both of you been watching the matches, the first, the second, and now this one. How excited have you been as you've been keeping track from here?

JESSICA KORDA: No, it's been awesome. We changed our practice round time I think on Wednesday so we could play later because he was playing at 5:00 in the morning here.

So yeah, we've been adjusting it to, and then couple naps here and there in the afternoon. But we're so excited and just proud to watch him and support him. He's there almost by himself. He's got his hitting partner there with him and everybody else is here kind of cheering him on.

We've been there every step of the way.

Q. What was going on this morning? I heard that you guys were watching on the drive in.

JESSICA KORDA: We were, because they had a stupid rain delay so it completely screwed everything up. We are just really thankful we had a afternoon tee time today. If we had a morning time, I'm pretty sure I would just be refreshing myself out on the golf course.

You know, it was so nice to be able to watch him, and he played so great. I mean, he was down in the first set and he climbed his way back. Having almost an hour rain delay we were kind of just like texting back and forth with him through it.

Yeah, it was sick. It was a good win.

Q. His next match is against kind of his idol, as you guys have talked about. What do you think that means for him?

JESSICA KORDA: Oh, it'll mean the world. I think he'll be so pumped up. Yeah, good job that he doesn't need to play tomorrow because I don't know if he would sleep much. He has a couple days to settle in for it. It'll be really cool. It's a great experience for him.

He has a picture with Rafa when he was little kid, so it's always amazing to be able to play with your idols, somebody that's he's looked up to. We have a cat named Rafa, so doesn't get more close to home than that.

Q. Nelly said it was a combined effort on naming the cat Rafa.

JESSICA KORDA: Absolutely. For them it was. I had nothing to do with it at all. I'm allergic to cats.

Q. So how is your Sunday morning going to do?

JESSICA KORDA: Who knows. TBD. Hopefully I play well or the tee times are late enough. I don't know. Can he play on Monday? Is it Sunday? Do we know for sure.

Q. It's Sunday.

JESSICA KORDA: Is it? Like 100%? I thought they get the weekend off.

Q. Will that be in the back your mind this weekend?

JESSICA KORDA: Not tomorrow, but once the draw comes out. I mean, there is nothing we can do from our side of the spectrum, but regardless we'll be cheering him on.

Q. What does it mean to see his hard work come to fruition?

JESSICA KORDA: It means the world. It means more to him I think because she's just been grinding away. He's grown so much and so to gain some strength, fill out that 6'6" frame. It takes a lot work and he's an athletic. Yeah, just so proud.

This is just the beginning.