WATCH: Alexander Zverev and Frances Tiafoe predict breakout season for Sebastian Korda before American's Australian Open heroics
Sebastian Korda's breakthrough Grand Slam performance at the 2023 Australian Open probably did not come as a surprise to many who have played him. It certainly came as no surprise to both Alexander Zverev and Frances Tiafoe, both of whom predicted the American to have a 'breakout 2023 season' even before the Australian Open.
Korda reached his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the ongoing Australian Open, beating Daniil Medvedev and Hubert Hurkacz in the process. Twenty-five years since his father, Petr, won the Melbourne Major, Sebastian Korda is making his great start to the 2023 season count by exceeding the expectations of many at the Australian Open.
However, as far as Zverev and Tiafoe are concerned, the 22-year-old was always set to have a stellar 2023 season. When asked to name one player who will have a breakout season and will be a 'darkhorse' in 2023, Zverev was clear in his selection of Korda in both categories.
"He (Sebastian Korda) has a massive game in my opinion," Zverev said ahead of the 2023 Australian Open, in a video recently shared by the ATP Tour.
Tiafoe echoed those thoughts, stressing that Korda entered the 2023 season on the back of a strong last year, and also highlighted Korda's impressive performance against Novak Djokovic in the Adelaide International 1 final.
"In the last year he's playing pretty well, he almost beat Novak last week. He can be tough," Tiafoe said of his fellow American.
World No. 31 Korda had a match point against Djokovic in the Adelaide final earlier this month, before the Serbian tennis great mounted a comeback. However, Korda matched Djokovic on quality throughout a narrow 7-6(8), 6-7(3), 4-6 defeat.
At the ongoing Australian Open, where he took on Karen Khachanov in a quarterfinal on Tuesday, Korda beat 2021 and 2022 finalist Medvedev in straight sets before winning a five-set thriller in a deciding set tiebreak against Hurkacz.
Sebastian Korda reveals how experiences of facing Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic made him better under pressure
In an already impressive young career, Sebastian Korda has also experienced the lows of close defeats, two of which came against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The one against Djokovic was in Adelaide, while the one against his tennis idol Nadal was at the 2022 Indian Wells Masters, a match in which Korda lost a double-break lead in the deciding set to lose the match.
Despite losing two matches where he had chances to win, facing two of the sport's greatest players taught Korda a lot, and he feels those tough losses helped him greatly going forward, as he is now better equipped to deal with pressure. Korda said that those experiences also helped him when facing both Medvedev and Hurkacz at the Australian Open.
"I think I've had a tough match with Rafa, serving for it a couple times. Match point with Djokovic. I think that really helped me, especially in the last match with Medvedev, closing out that tiebreaker. Then today as well," Sebastian Korda said in a press conference after his fourth-round win against Hurkacz.
"I think all those little moments that I've gone through, kind of learning from them, staying patient, staying positive, going through the process I think have really helped me going forward," the American star added.
Regardless of his result in the quarterfinal against Khachanov, Korda is set to rise in the ATP rankings after the Australian Open and go above his career-high ranking of No. 30.