AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 19, 2022

Sebastian Korda

Press Conference

S. KORDA/C. Moutet

3-6, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for joining us. How are you feeling after the match?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Tired. Tired, but good (laughing).

THE MODERATOR: What was your highlight?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: The end (laughing). The end. Yeah, long match. Second ever five-setter. Definitely nice to win it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Obviously after an epic like that, the crowd was going wild with those chants, those, "Sebi Korda, ole, ole, ole." I just wondered how you find the aspect of entertaining people as a tennis player, kind of what do you think draws you in, them in to you?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah. No, the crowd was so good. They were, basically from the first point of the match they were chanting. They were getting wild and it was really nice. It was a great atmosphere on a small court, which was really cool. And, yeah, just super happy with the ending.

Q. First of all, after many years I'm happy to talk with the son of somebody I interviewed 10,000 times. Well done. Unbelievable effort. Which was the most difficult moments, because match points, set points, I mean, and how did you solve, do you think you were also lucky or you were just very, very good in those moments?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Probably a mix of both. It was an up-and-down match. Third set I was up a break, had a couple chances to go up 5-3, didn't take it, then he played a really good tiebreaker.

Then he was serving for it at 5-4 in the fourth. I kept calm. I think he started cramping up a little bit and then I stayed calm. He was constantly fighting with cramps or with the umpire, with the crowd, and I think I handled it really well and just focused on myself and played really well towards the end.

Q. Can I ask you for the future, the next match, what do you expect?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: I don't know (laughing). I don't know. Hopefully to win. He's a tough opponent. I've never played with him. I practiced with him once. He's an incredible player, so I'm really looking forward to it. It's another great challenge for me, another great player and really excited for it.

Q. So you've got PCB and then Alcaraz has got Berrettini so, you guys could face each other in round 4. I just wondered if you could talk about the dynamic that both Next Gen finalists could kind of really lay down a marker here.

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, it would be really cool. It's a long ways away. But, yeah, I'm really good friends with Carlos. He's a super nice kid. We have a, we played a good match in Milan and I'm sure in our careers we'll play plenty more.

So it's always exciting, but it's a lot of work ahead for us to get there.

Q. Kind of general, I remember talking to you when you won the Juniors here and I just wondered what your main memories are from that week and kind of how much of a platform it was for you.

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, it was great. Probably the one thing that stands out is I ate chicken parm 10 nights in a row at like this restaurant right next to our hotel. So I went there every single night, had the same meal.

Yeah, but it was a lot of fun. Juniors you, it's kind of, in a way it's like a team. You're always traveling with someone. You have a roommate. So it was a lot of great memories from that week and I think that really kind of gave me a big jump into what I'm doing now, playing pros, and it was just a lot of great memories from a great tournament.

Q. May I ask you if you ever seen on the TV the match that your father played against Rios in Australia and what he has been telling you about that? And just the last thing, when he played the Grand Slam Cup once I think he played almost four hours or so. So some experience. Do you know anything about those things?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, I think he won the Grand Slam Cup. Yeah, I think he beat Sampras in the semis or something like that.

Q. Yeah, Stich.

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Oh, yeah, Stich. And when I was a little kid we had it on like a DVD player, so I would always play it and always found inspiration from that. I mean, he did something that everyone whoever picks up a tennis racquet wants to achieve and I'm really proud of it. And yeah, whenever I have the chance I try to watch something, one of his matches. He was always entertaining, he was flashy and, yeah, just a fun person to watch.