Sebastian Korda has announced that he is joining his idol Rafael Nadal in the Nike family. Korda, 22, made the announcement via Instagram and reflected on his season. Korda, number 34 in the world, has not won a title this year, but last month he was runner-up in Gijón and Antwerp.
Now that Korda is part of the Nike family, he is determined to do great things. “Insanely excited and grateful to officially join the @nike family! I can’t wait to make great memories representing this amazing brand.
My 2022 season is over. A long year with many lessons learned. Thank you all for the support throughout the year, I can’t wait to start again. Let’s make it special. I’m ready,” Korda wrote on Instagram. In March, Korda faced Nadal in the second round of the Indian Wells Masters.
Nadal, who was undefeated on the year at the time, ran away with a 6-2 1-6 7-6(3) victory. After easily winning the second set, Korda went two breaks ahead in the third set and held a 5-2 lead. Then Korda suffered an impressive collapse when Nadal won in the third set tie-break.
After the match, Nadal was honest and admitted that he did not know how the victory had escaped him. “I don’t know how I won the match. I was very lucky as I probably played one of my worst matches of the year. Sebastian played well, he was very aggressive and it wasn’t easy to control his balls.
I didn’t serve well and he put pressure on me on the return. My forehand didn’t hurt him, but I still managed to win.”
Steve Flink speaks about Nadal
Speaking on the Court-Side with Beilinson Tennis podcast, journalist Steve Flink stated that the rest of the field could prove dangerous for Rafael Nadal.
“Rafa talked about the need to play more matches, he talked about getting to Italy early to play practice sets but practice sets are nothing like playing real matches. It just helps you but it is not the same thing,” Flink said.
“So it was unfortunate that he didn’t get more matches in Paris in advance of Turin to give himself a better chance because the field has so much depth. It’s going to be such a hard-fought event and both groups of four players each are going to be exceedingly strong.
So it’s going to be hard for Rafa because he has always been the least comfortable indoors. He could well prove me wrong. He’s is one of these guys who, no matter how many negative comments he makes, ‘doubt’ is one of his favorite words, he overcomes his doubts.
I still think we’ll see him go in with the usual fighting spirit. So he’ll still be hard to beat but I don’t like the conditions. It tends to be fast in Turin,” he
