Korda's cool stretch: Northern Lights, uncle time & Australian success

If Sebastian Korda’s offseason luck is a sign of things to come, the American’s 2024 season should be a memorable one.

While many players spend their offseason at the beach or relaxing at home, Korda and his girlfriend traveled to Tromso, Norway, to attempt to see the aurora borealis, otherwise known as the Northern Lights.

“I was supposed to do the trip a year ago, two years ago, but I had a little back issue that I had to get taken care of. But last year, I finally went on my dream trip,” Korda told ATPTour.com. “I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights and myself and my girlfriend, we went to go see it for six nights and we saw it three times, so we got pretty lucky.

“There were a couple of people on the trip who were there as well that were there for seven nights and didn't see it once. So we got pretty lucky. And that was just a bucket list trip for us.”

The Northern Lights are a phenomenon in the atmosphere that causes waves of mostly green light, eliciting tourists from around the world.

“Just how bright it is. It's a pretty surreal moment that you just see all the lights moving around. We just had a great time,” Korda said. “I think it's probably the best thing that I could have done, just to mentally reset and just to look forward to the work that was ahead in the offseason. It was a great trip for myself and my girlfriend. We just had a lot of fun.”

 

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That was not the only excitement for the 23-year-old. His older sister, LPGA star Jessica Korda, is due to give birth to her first child in the coming weeks. ‘Sebi’ will become an uncle for the first time.

“My sister, she's doing great so far. It's going to be pretty cool to be an uncle for the first time,” Korda said, before cracking a joke. "I'm going to be the uncle that teaches the bad things, and then have her handle the rest!

“It's going to be awesome. Hopefully I could spend a lot of time with her baby and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Australia has long been a happy hunting ground for the Korda Family. Sebi’s father, Petr Korda, won the 1998 Australian Open. Jessica won the 2012 Australian Open golf event and in 2019, sister Nelly Korda, another LPGA star, triumphed at the same event. Sebi claimed the 2018 Australian Open boys’ singles title.

“Honestly you have a lot of hard work that you do in the offseason, and then you just come here and the people are amazing, the conditions are super quick and it's always packed here,” Korda said. “It's just no better place to start the season and just feel pretty comfortable playing here and really enjoy ourselves.”

Last year, Korda produced an especially impressive Australian swing. The American held championship point against Novak Djokovic in Adelaide before falling short, but bounced back by making his first major quarter-final at Melbourne Park. He upset Daniil Medvedev, the former No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, in straight sets in the third round, marking one of the best performances of his career.

“It's definitely up there, that's for sure. I think our games are polar opposites of each other. He's more of a defensive player, I'm more of an offensive player, so we have a lot of fun playing against each other,” Korda said. “I have a lot of fun playing against him. You've got to use your mind a little bit more, you've got to use all the tools in your box.”

Four-time Australian Open champion Andre Agassi, who is like family to Korda, was in town for a few days as the tournament got underway. Agassi has long been a mentor to Korda.

“He's the man. He's an incredible person to have in my corner and he's just one of the best human beings alive,” Korda said. “I saw him a couple times here. Just what you see is what you get. So just a big heart and just such an easy guy to be around.”

The vibes are good in Korda’s world. From his dream offseason trip to soon becoming an uncle and spending time with those he cares about, things are going well for the American. And no matter what happens when he plays fifth seed Andrey Rublev in the third round, his mindset is not based on results.

“[It is] just to be happy, basically. When you're happy on court or outside of the court, the results follow. I think that's the biggest key,” Korda said. “It is a very long season. So whether you start good or bad here in Australia, it doesn't matter. You play a few matches and then you just build it out through the rest of the season.”