"It’s been a little dark with injuries and anxiety and being out of competition — that hurts" - Sebastian Korda back in love with tennis after tough period

Sebastian Korda is back in the winning enclosure after winning the Delray Beach Open final, taking down Tommy Paul in straight sets. It is his first title since August 2024 and a huge step in the right direction in what has been a rough period of time with injuries and anxiety cropping up. However, speaking to the Tennis Channel he unveiled that his love for tennis has returned.

After his title, he opted not to compete in the Mexican Open to focus on recovery for bigger tournaments. "My week off’s going good, man," he began. "Happy to be home. I pulled out of Acapulco — I was going to go there, but my back was getting a little tight and I was having some issues with that. Hopefully I’ll be ready for Indian Wells in a couple of days."

The first Masters 1000 event will take place from March 5-14 with the best tennis players in the world competing in one of the biggest events on the calendar. Korda has never made it past the third round stage in this specific event and will be hoping to get his preparation right for the tournament in California.

"I haven’t hit a tennis ball since Delray. I’ll have my first session tomorrow and see how it goes. Right now I’m just treating my back and doing gym work and rehab. If everything goes well, I’ll head to Indian Wells on Friday and practice there as much as possible. I’d likely play Wednesday or Thursday. I’m just preparing and not getting too relaxed. I want to stay in that competitive spirit and remind myself it’s not going to be easy — I need to keep working and pushing."

Korda came into finals day with some knowledge on the weather, and that it the windy conditions could play a huge part in the final. That turned out to be the case. "The day before, I checked what the weather was going to be like," he admitted. "I knew it was going to be a little windy — I wasn’t expecting that much wind. That was probably the most extreme wind I’ve ever played in. I knew it was going to rain too, so luckily we avoided that."

He altered the game plan and it resulted in glory. "I really just wanted to accept that I was going to play kind of ugly tennis. I was just going to put the ball in the court, play more through the middle, and manage the conditions as best I could. I didn’t get frustrated — even after going down an early break in the second set and then breaking right back. It was just about accepting the conditions, and I was super happy with that."

It has been a good period on court for the American who is looking to rise back up the rankings to where he once was before an untimely spell on the sidelines. Now up to world number 37, Korda is hoping to continue his fine form from the end of 2025 and breach the top 32 once more.

"As for what’s been clicking — since October I felt like I’ve been playing really well," he stated. "I was practicing well and doing the right things, but I wasn’t playing well in tournaments. I didn’t have a great Australian swing. Then I played a Challenger in San Diego, got some matches there, started playing well in Dallas. I think it’s about staying in tournaments, being in stressful situations, and getting comfortable being uncomfortable."

The 25-year-old has built up an impressive record over Paul, winning five of their seven encounters. Despite this good form, he cannt put his finger on why. "I’m not sure why I have such a good record against Tommy," he pondered. "We played a couple times when I first got on tour, but not recently, so there’s been some time between matches. I try to be as aggressive as possible because when you let Tommy dictate, it gets super tricky. He moves unbelievably well, he’s an incredible athlete, and he’s really good coming forward too. So the key is trying to keep him back and move him around as much as possible. But he does so many things well — you have to play really good tennis against him."

A key area of tennis is the serve, proving pivotal in many matchups. This was the case in the Delray Beach Open final with Korda winning 83% of first serve points. Despite his second serve points being a little low, he is showing vast improvements in this aspect of the game.

"The biggest key is honestly just practicing it," he commented. "I had a pretty bad elbow injury and went almost a year without really serving or practicing it properly."

The practice has been showcased on court. This year he has won 82% of first serve points, up around 10% when he was in his pomp back in the top 15 a couple of years ago. This has given him a hold percentage of 90%, very impressive numbers.

He credits his coach for this improvement. "I did a lot of serving in the offseason with my coach, Ryan Harrison. We worked on rhythm and a few technical things. The biggest thing has been getting my first-serve percentage higher. I used to get a lot of unreturned first serves, but my percentage was only around 50–60%. I was missing out on so many easy points. Now, with a higher first-serve percentage, games become much easier and I can apply more pressure on return. It just makes life easier."

Along with that, a lot of work has been put into the forehand among other things. "We focused on dictating more with my forehand and coming to the net more. In the past, my worst shot was my forehand — I’d get bullied on that side. Now I’m trying to go after it more. When I commit to it and swing freely, I actually miss less. So the goal has been to turn it into more of a weapon and do the bullying instead."

The Korda family are widely known as a very sporty family. His sisters, Nelly and Jessica, are both professional golfers who have enjoyed a fair amount of success. Korda also enjoys a game of golf but is no match to his pro siblings.

"It always gets competitive. Anything we do — card games, beach workouts — we’re super competitive," he said. "In golf, I try to be competitive, but I just can’t keep up with them. They smoke me. Last time I shot 76 — about four or five over — and they shot six under. So it wasn’t even close."

While his sisters moved towards golf, tennis was always the sport for Korda. He has not had it easy in recent times but the love for the sport is returning at a rapid pace.

"As a little kid, I had a dream. I fell in love with tennis. It’s been a little dark with injuries and anxiety and being out of competition — that hurts," he acknowledged. "But in the last few weeks I’ve calmed myself down and revisited why I play. I’m obsessed with tennis. I love watching it — I probably watch more than most people. I always have it on TV."

His motivation is to be better than he was before. He had a career high ranking of world number 15 and will now look to surpass that. "I just want to be better than I was before — better than my best ranking. I love how much you can improve in tennis. I feel like I’m a better player than I was a year or two ago, and that’s satisfying. I just want to keep improving and going in the right direction," he concluded.