Sebastian Korda and Petr Korda made history by becoming the first father-son duo to be ranked inside the top 20 in the ATP rankings since its inception on 23 August 1973. Sebastian reached a career-high ranking of 20 after getting a phenomenal start to the grass swing.
After having an underwhelming European clay court swing, Korda looked to turn this around at the grass swing. He began his campaign at the Libema Open where he defeated Tristan Schoolkate, Luca Nardi, Tommy Paul, and Tallon Griekspoor to reach the final. The American was defeated by Alex de Minaur in straight sets bringing his impressive run to an end.
The 23-year-old then entered the Queen's Club Championships. He defeated Karen Khachanov, Grigor Dimitrov, and Rinky Hijikata to reach the second semifinals in grass this year. However, the eventual champion Tommy Paul got his revenge against his compatriot by defeating him in straight sets.
Though he failed to win any titles, Sebastian Korda did manage a new career milestone as he reached a career-high ranking of 20 for the first time in his career. In achieving this, he completed another achievement alongside his father, Petr Korda, by becoming the first father-son duo in the history of ATP rankings to have reached the Top 20.
Petr reached a career-high ranking of 2 after winning the Australian Open in 1998. He also reached the final of the French Open in 1992, made it to the quarterfinals of all Majors, and won 10 titles in his career. On the other hand, Sebastian won the Emilia-Romagna Open in 2021 and reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 2023.
"My ultimate goal in tennis is to win two Grand Slams, one more than my dad" - Sebastian Korda on his ambitions
After reaching the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters last year, Sebastian Korda said that his goal was to become better than his father, Petr Korda, and win two Grand Slams, one more than him. However, he didn't feel any pressure and mentioned that was enjoying playing his tennis.
"Obviously, I would love to be better than my dad. My ultimate goal in tennis is to win two Grand Slams, one more than my dad. That's just, you know, little things like that, but I don't think there's any pressure. I just really love playing tennis, and just really having a lot of fun right now," Korda said.
Sebastian Korda will look to take his form into Wimbledon next. He had a disappointing outing last time losing in the first round to Jiri Vesely.