“We were never pushed into tennis” - Nelly Korda reflects on taking up skiing and other sports before golf

Nelly Korda is the daughter of former tennis star Petr Korda, but according to her, she and her siblings were never forced to pick up the sport. She said she played several sports during her childhood, including skiing, gymnastics, and others.

Nelly Korda is currently the World's No. 1 golfer and one of the most popular stars of the present time. Her father, Petr Korda, is a former Czech tennis star who won the Australian Open in 1998 and reached as high as No. 2 in the ATP rankings. However, despite such success, he never thought about making his children play the same sport.

On Friday, December 20, during the pre-event press conference of the PNC Championship, Petr Korda was asked if Nelly was pushed into tennis during her childhood. The golf star took it upon herself to respond.

"No, they always wanted us to be passionate about something, to find what we truly love," she said. "Golf was something that he started playing after tennis, and it was something that we could all do together. My sister is five years older than I am, and she was definitely one of my role models in life, so anything she did, I wanted to do. It was a great time for us to spend great quality family time together.

"But yeah, we were never pushed into tennis. We skied in the winters. I figure skated. I did gymnastics. We kind of dabbled a little bit in everything. But at the end of the day, we were passionate about golf, and that's the route that we took."

It's not as if none of Petr Korda's three kids continued his legacy. His son, Sebastian, is an emerging tennis star and has performed quite well so far. However, as per Nelly Korda, her brother also picked up tennis later in life.

"My brother didn't start playing until 12, so he was a hockey player before that," she continued. "Never pushed us into anything. It was just about finding what we were really passionate about."

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When will Nelly Korda tee off at the PNC Championship, Round 1?

Nelly Korda and Petr Korda will tee off on Thursday, December 21 at 10:31 am ET alongside Fred Couples and Hunter Hannemann for the first round of the PNC Championship.

Here's a look at the tee time details for the PNC Championship, Round 1 (all times ET):

• 9:00 am: Nick Price / Greg Price and Lee Trevino / Daniel Trevino
• 9:13 am: Gary Player / Alexander Hull and Mark O’Meara / Shaun O’Meara
• 9:26 am: Trevor Immelman / Jacob Immelman and Nick Faldo / Matthew Faldo
• 9:39 am: Tom Lehman / Sean Lehman and Matt Kuchar / Carson Kuchar
• 9:52 am: Stewart Cink / Connor Cink and Padraig Harrington / Paddy Harrington
• 10:05 am: Steve Stricker / Izzi Stricker and Annika Sorenstam / Will McGee
• 10:18 am: David Duval / Brady Duval and John Daly / John Daly II
• 10:44 am: Justin Leonard / Luke Leonard and Tiger Woods / Charlie Woods
• 10:57 am: Vijay Singh / Qass Singh and Bernhard Langer / Jason Langer