Sebastian Korda has no hesitation in acknowledging how difficult the past few years have been. Or why a January appearance on the Challenger Tour played a key role in his recent resurgence.
“I’ve been injured for so long, out for so many months, in a real black hole,” he said after the biggest win of his career in Miami, beating world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. “Those few weeks were important for me and allowed me to find myself.”
The 25-year-old former world No. 15 has seen his ranking slip to No. 86 due to a string of injuries (right elbow surgery in 2024 and a tibial stress fracture last summer). Looking for answers, he returned to the Challenger Tour — something he hadn’t played since 2021 — and began rebuilding from the ground up.
Korda made it to the finals of the aforementioned Challenger before winning the title in Delray Beach. A month later, he celebrated the biggest win of his career in Miami. It’s great to see a player with so much potential unveil the mystery of his immense potential.
He does this with his fiery game, which is nearly bulletproof when it’s at full strength, but he also does it with the help of others. Words of wisdom from psychologists, new coach Ryan Harrison and even American legend John McEnroe.
“Working with my psychologist these past few weeks has been a really good turning point for me,” he said. “Just finding ways to win matches… and accepting the fact that I’m not playing good tennis. Whether I’m playing great tennis or it’s the worst tennis of my life, just mentally accepting it and finding ways to win.”
That shift was on full display Sunday in Miami.
Korda earned the biggest win of his career with a victory over Alcaraz, but it wasn’t easy. After losing the second set, he found himself under pressure again in the third.
“I’m kind of amused at my transformation,” he said. “I was like, here we go again. I learned from this.”
This time, he didn’t let it unravel.
Instead, Korda calmed down, doubled down and finished the game – a testament to a player who has learned how to live through difficult moments rather than avoid them.
“I feel like I’m a better player now than I was when I was in the top 15,” Korda said in Indian Wells earlier this month. “It’s just a small step… If I stay on this path, hopefully I can get a better ranking than before.”
The results are already starting to show. But for Keda, the more meaningful changes are internal—hard-won and long-lasting.
Meeting Johnny Mac
In Dallas in early February, Korda said he had a few minutes to chat with seven-time major champion John McEnroe. Those few minutes, he remembered, were informative.
“John McEnroe was having an exhibition match there,” he said. He took a few minutes out of his day to talk to me. That’s one of the things we really talked about, finding my identity on the court. Just talked about who I am as a person and what I want to do.
“One of the things he said was, ‘You have to do some self-reflection, you have to figure out who you are, you have to figure out why you play tennis, why you love tennis. Yeah, I think that was a big key for me. Kudos to him for taking the time to do that.”
