Nelly Korda is in Orlando and in contention at the LPGA’s Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. But it’s another member of her family who’s making even bigger waves in professional sports this week.
And, no, we’re not talking about her sister and fellow LPGA pro Jessica Korda.
It turns out the Korda family is absurdly talented at golf and tennis, with a deep roster of star athletes among them. Nelly and Jessica’s younger brother, Sebastian “Sebi” Korda, is a pro tennis player, and the 22-year-old is currently on a potentially career-defining run at the first tennis grand slam event of the year, the Australian Open.
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Sebi defeated World No. 8 and 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev early Friday morning U.S. time, advancing to the fourth round, which matches his deepest run at a grand slam in his career.
After her second round at the Tournament of Champions, Korda revealed she woke up early before her alarm went off on Friday to catch her little brother’s big match while eating breakfast in the players’ dining room.
“Yeah, I saw him — actually, I saw him win in dining, so that was cool,” Korda said Friday night. “I did actually wake up 30 minutes before my alarm to watch him play just naturally knowing that he was playing.”
Despite being used to watching her family excel as athletes, Korda sounded thrilled about her younger sibling’s accomplishments.
“Honestly, he’s put in a bunch of work. He has an amazing support system behind him, and it’s really cool and special to see him do what he’s doing. Hopefully he can continue making this run,” Korda added, “It’s really special seeing him achieve all this, and I couldn’t be happier for him.”
Sebi is not the first pro tennis player in the Korda family. His mom Regina was a top-30 player, and his dad Petra won the 1998 Australian Open.
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On that note, following his victory over Medvedev, Sebi claimed he was the worst athlete in the family.
But Nelly wasn’t having any of that. When told of Sebi’s pronouncement on Friday, Nelly disagreed strongly, stating that Sebi, in fact, was the best athlete of them all. He’s even a stick on the golf course.
“It’s complete BS. [Sebi] is the best. Honestly, he’s the best. His hand-eye coordination is unbelievable. His swing — I’m jealous of his swing actually. It’s crazy. He’s a lefty. He’s a natural righty, but he plays golf lefty. He played hockey lefty. I mean, he grew up playing hockey. He was pretty good at it, too. Like he skates really nicely, plays golf nicely, plays tennis beautifully.”
She added, “He’s full of s—. Excuse my French.”
Sebi will face off against No. 10 Hubert Hurkacz in the fourth round of the Australian Open this weekend with a chance to advance to his first grand slam quarterfinal. Nelly begins the third round of the Tournament of Champions on Saturday four shots off the lead.