ROLAND GARROS

May 30, 2024

Sebastian Korda

Press Conference

S. KORDA/S. Kwon

6-4, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Congrats. If you can walk us through the match today, what was the key?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: It was difficult, especially with the rain delay. A lot of time to think, a lot of time to just think about the match, and a lot of nerves coming out of that.

Just happy to get through that one. He started playing really well. It was a difficult opponent.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I would like to ask you about Carlos Alcaraz, your next rival. You know each other very well. Four times you have played. What do you expect for the match, and are you happy or more confident with the set he lost against De Jong?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: He's been one of the best clay courters in the last couple of years, so it's obviously going to be very difficult. We've played probably two years ago to the day, a third round, exactly. A night match as well.

Yeah, it's going to be a fun experience, and hopefully I can play some good tennis. We'll see what happens.

Q. How did you find the conditions today? Obviously there's been so much movement around, small court, all of that. How was it?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, I prefer it to be a lot hotter. It's better for me if it's warm, but the ball wasn't flying too much. It's difficult on the serve, especially when the ball isn't moving around. Just happy to stay mentally in there and come out on top.

Q. I wanted to ask you as well about the challenge that you've had before playing one of your heroes, Nadal, and that's something that's happening -- we've seen quite a bit because players are playing for so long. How did you find that dynamic of having to switch your brain from being, like, oh, I love this guy to I need to go and beat this guy?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: The first time I played him it was, obviously, very difficult. He's one of the reasons why I play tennis. One of my dream matches was to play him here at the French Open.

Getting that opportunity was -- at the beginning it was strange because you've seen him so many times on TV, and then he is across the net, and you are playing against him here. It's basically his home. He has dominated here his whole career.

It was obviously very difficult, but you get through that pretty fast, and you just try to beat him. It's very difficult to play him.

Q. Were you able to do that when you were playing him, have the normal kind of ferocious intensity and competitiveness that you would if you were playing any other player?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, I think after a good bit, it kind of just goes away. You want to try and win as much as -- against him or any opponent really.

Every match you go out there, you want to win. Very tough to do against him here, but yeah, hopefully I get another opportunity soon.

Q. I'm wondering with time differences and your own day job, I don't know how easy or hard this might be, but I'm wondering how much you might have been able to follow your sister's run in her sport, maybe watch some of it online or on TV. I don't know how much the two of you might interact in these days at all, and sort of what maybe sort of inspiration can you take from seeing her dominance of late?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, luckily and unluckily, I was out of the tournament every time she was doing well, so I always had the opportunity to watch her. I would always watch the last couple of holes because I can't take watching it. It's just too nerve-wracking for me.

Obviously, both of my sisters are my biggest inspirations, you know, just growing up around them, watching them, how hard they worked their whole lives to be in the position that they're in. Yeah, it's a lot of fun watching her right now.

She's such an unbelievable competitor. She'll do anything to win out there. She'll put her teeth into everything. She's a true warrior. Just watching her play right now, it's really inspiring to watch.

Q. Obviously, you're a Floridian and an American, but with your European background and spending time here as a kid, do you think you've had more exposure to this sort of tennis than other people just go completely in Florida, or when you were here was it just Christmas, family time, things like that?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, it was just Christmas and family basically. We spent until I was around 10 years six months here, six months in the U.S. So, obviously, I'm comfortable in Europe, but I didn't really play tennis too much in that period of time.

Also, I didn't play my first tournament outside of Florida until I was 15 years old besides the Easter Bowl in California, only because my sisters were playing one of their grand slams in Palm Springs. So it was perfect timing for us to be there.

Yeah, I stayed in Florida until I was 15 basically just playing tournaments. Then I started playing ITF Juniors. So I would say I had the least amount of exposure to international competition until a later age.

Yeah, definitely my European side of my family, it definitely helps me being here. I'm quite comfortable. I don't mind staying over throughout the whole clay court and grass court season. It's pretty easy for me.

Q. Can I ask you about Radek, your coach? How do you view it as how it's going, and are you satisfied with him?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: No, I'm not satisfied with my coach at all (laughing). Yeah, Radek, we've been around each other for basically my whole life. My dad coached him for 15 or so years, so he's family.

He knows me better than anyone else out there. Yeah, I would say it's been -- we've put in a lot of great, hard work. It's been unfortunate that I had a wrist injury for so long, so you can't really do too much. Now hopefully that's passed us, and we can put in some good work.

We're definitely trending the right way. We're playing some better tennis now and putting a lot more work on the tennis court, which is great. Hopefully we can have some better results in the near future.

Q. A bit of a random question, but they don't want fans having alcohol in the stands here. Now they're trying to tamp down on things.

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Get rowdy out here?

Q. Apparently. I'm just curious, as an athlete out there, an entertainer anyway, what do you think of that kind of policy?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: That they're not smashing booze out there? I've played in Australia on one of their brand new courts that has a bar right next to it. It wasn't a fun experience. I've heard some stuff that weren't very nice.

Yeah, I don't know. I don't really know how to comment on that. I think they should do whatever they want, but hopefully not get too rowdy out there.