Petr Korda: Everything you need to know about the former Australian Open champion

Who is Petr Korda?

Petr Korda is a former ATP player from the Czech Republic. He reached a career-best ranking of World No.2 in singles and World No.10 in doubles. Over the span of 12 years, he won 10 singles titles and 10 doubles titles.

Korda's best result in Grand Slam singles came in 1998, when he defeated Marcelo Rios in the final to win the Australian Open. He had previously reached the final at Roland Garros in 1992, but lost out to defending champion Jim Courier in the final.

In doubles, Petr Korda won the 1996 Australian Open with Stefan Edberg as his partner. He had reached the finals of the French Open six years earlier along with Goran Ivanisevic, but suffered a straight-sets loss at the final hurdle.

Marriage to Regina Rajchrtova

Petr Korda married Regina Rajchrtova (last name changed to Kordova post-marriage), another professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. She represented the country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, and reached a career-best World No.26 and World No.45 in singles and doubles respectively.

Suspension and allegations of doping

Petr Korda was accused of doping during the 1998 Wimbledon Championship

At the 1998 Wimbledon Championships, Petr Korda tested positive for Nandrolone, one of the most widely used substances for performance enhancement.

Korda submitted a plea saying that he had ingested the substance by accident, which the ITF (International Tennis Federation) accepted. They let Korda continue playing, while deciding that he cannot collect the prize money and ranking points from the tournament.

However, several players considered the penalty farcical and threatened to boycott the 1999 Australian Open where Korda would have been the defending champion. As a result the ITF wanted to reopen and re-examine the case, which the Korda party did not agree with.

Following a lengthy legal procedure, the ITF reopened the case and levied a one-year ban on Korda from September 1999. All the accumulated ranking points and prize money since Wimbledon 1998 were stripped from Petr Korda as well.

Anticipating the decision, Korda had already announced his retirement in July 1999. However, he played a couple more tournaments on the ATP Challenger Tour after that.

Children

Sebastian Korda emulated his father by winning the Australian Open Junior title in 2018

Petr Korda and Regina have three children - Jessica Korda, Nelly Korda, and Sebastian Korda. All three of the Korda children are professional athletes in one capacity or the other.

Jessica and Nelly Korda are professional golf players who compete on the LPGA Tour. Jessica Korda, who turned professional in 2010, was ranked a career-high LPGA No.13 in 2018, and has six Tour titles to her name.

Nelly Korda, who turned professional in 2016, is the current LPGA No.1, doing one better than her elder sister with seven Tour titles to her name. She was also the Olympic Gold medalist in Tokyo, becoming the second female player from America to win the medal in golf.

Sebastian Korda is the current World No.41 on the ATP Tour, following in the footsteps of his parents. Winner of the Australian Open Junior title in 2018, he defeated Marco Cecchinato in the final of the the ATP 250 Emilia-Romagna Open this year to win his first ATP Tour title.

Furthermore, Sebastian reached the fourth round of Wimbledon and the quarterfinals of the Miami Open in 2021. Since his debut in 2018 at the age of 18, this has been his most successful campaign.

At the year-end Next-Gen ATP Finals, Sebastian Korda topped his group and beat Brandon Nakashima in the semifinal. However, he fell to Carlos Alcaraz in the final.

Playing at the PNC Championship with daughter Nelly Korda

Petr Korda competed alongside his daughter Nelly Korda at the 2021 PNC Championship

Petr Korda has been back in the limelight this year due to his appearance at the PNC Championship.

The PNC Championship is an annual golf tournament where pro-golfers compete with one of their family members to form a two-member team. This year, Petr Korda participated with his daughter Nelly, the only father-daughter duo at the event. Sebastian Korda served as their caddie.

The pair finished the 2021 PNC Championship in the 12th position, needing 10 strokes more than winners John Dally and his son. Tiger Woods and his father Charlie Woods finished as the runners-up.

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