Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

player. He won the

1998 Australian Open The 1998 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Albert Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 86th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 19 January through 1 February 1998. Seniors M ...

and was runner-up at the 1992 French Open, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 2 in February 1998. Korda tested positive for doping in July 1998 at Wimbledon, and was banned from September 1999 for 12 months, but he retired shortly before the ban.

Tennis career

Juniors

He first came to the tennis world's attention as a promising junior player. In 1985, he partnered with fellow Czech

Cyril Suk Cyril Suk III (born 29 January 1967) is a former professional tennis player. A doubles specialist, Suk won five Grand Slam titles, one men's doubles and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and 32 ATP Tour doubles titles during his career. Ea ...

to win the boys' doubles title at the French Open. Korda and Suk ranked the joint-World No. 1 junior doubles players that year. Junior Slam results: *Australian Open: - *French Open: 3R (

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

) *Wimbledon: QF (

) *US Open: QF (

)

Professional career

Korda turned professional in 1987. He won his first career doubles title in 1988, and his first top-level singles title in 1991. Korda was involved in four

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

finals during his career – two in singles and two in doubles. Korda also was known for the "Scissors Kick" which he would do at midcourt after winning matches. In 1990, Korda and

Goran Ivanišević Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a Wimbledon singles title as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001 while ranked world No. 125, after ...

finished runners-up in the men's doubles at the French Open, and as a result, Korda reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 10. In 1992, he rose to the men's singles final at the French Open beating

Christian Bergström Per Christian Bergström (born 19 July 1967) is a former tennis player from Sweden, who turned professional in 1985. He did not win any titles (neither singles nor doubles) during his career, but reached three singles quarter-finals in Grand Sla ...

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Michiel Schapers Michiel Schapers (born 11 October 1959) is a former tennis player from the Netherlands. Tennis career Turning professional in 1982, Schapers represented his native country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where he was defeated in quarterfi ...

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and

Henri Leconte Henri Leconte (born 4 July 1963) is a French former professional tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the French Open in 1988, won the French Open men's doubles title in 1984, and helped France win the Davis Cup in 1991. Leconte ...

, before he was defeated in straight sets by defending champion

Jim Courier James Spencer "Jim" Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He won four major singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He was the youngest man to reach the singles finals of ...

7–5, 6–2, 6–1. A highlight of Korda's career include winning the Grand Slam Cup in 1993, with five-set wins in the semifinal and final over

Pete Sampras Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...

and

Michael Stich Michael Detlef Stich (, ; born 18 October 1968) is a German former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1991, the men's doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the Olympic Games in 1992, and was a singles r ...

, the number 1 and 2 tennis players in the world at that time. Korda also was a part of the Czech Republic's team which won the

Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...

in 1994. In 1996 he teamed-up with

Stefan Edberg Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 19 ...

to win the men's doubles title at the Australian Open. He also upset the defending champion,

, in five sets in the fourth round of the 1997 US Open. The crowning moment of Korda's career came in 1998, when he defeated

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Scott Draper Scott Dennis Draper (born 5 June 1974) is an Australian former tennis player and golfer. He won the Australian Open Mixed Doubles with Samantha Stosur in 2005. Draper also reached the fourth round of the 1995 and 1996 French Opens, and the four ...

, Vincent Spadea,

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, Jonas Björkman and

Karol Kučera Karol Kučera (born 4 March 1974) is a retired ATP professional male tennis player from Slovakia. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 6 in September 1998, reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open the same year. In 20 ...

to face

Marcelo Ríos Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (; born 26 December 1975) is a Chilean former world No. 1 tennis player. Nicknamed ''"El Chino"'' ("The Chinese") and ''"El zurdo de Vitacura"'' ("The Lefty from Vitacura"), he became the first Latin American play ...

in the men's singles final at the Australian Open. Korda dominated the match from start to finish by winning in straight sets 6–2, 6–2, 6–2 and claimed his first Grand Slam singles title in just 1 hour and 25 minutes. The win propelled him to his career-high singles ranking of World No. 2. At four tournaments in 1998, Korda had the world No. 1 ranking in his sights, but he lost to

in Antwerp,

at Indian Wells,

Tim Henman Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in th ...

in Miami and

Richard Krajicek Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek ( cz, Krajíček; born 6 December 1971) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. In 1996, he won the men's singles title at Wimbledon, and remains the only Dutch player to have won a major singles title. In ...

in Monte Carlo.

Suspension and retirement

Following his quarterfinal match against

at the Wimbledon 1998, Korda tested positive for the banned steroid

nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) which is used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate (brand name Durabolin). Nandrolon ...

. This came to light in December 1998 when the appeals board of the

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there ...

(ITF) accepted his denial of intent and agreed not to ban him, instead merely withholding his Wimbledon prize money and ranking points. The ensuing controversy caused the ITF to launch an appeal against its own decision at the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its ...

(CAS). In January 1999 Korda obtained a ruling in the

High Court of England and Wales The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

that the ITF could not appeal, but the High Court ruling was overturned by the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much ...

. In July 1999 the CAS allowed the ITF appeal and on 1 September 1999 the ITF banned Korda for 12 months and stripped him of all prize money and ranking points since the failed test. Before the ban, Korda had already announced his retirement, after losing to Danny Sapsford and failing to qualify for Wimbledon 1999. However, after his ban he competed in Czech

ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...

events: the

Prague Open In tennis, Prague Open may refer to: * Prague Open (1987–1999) * ATP Prague Open * WTA Prague Open The Prague Open (currently branded as the Livesport Prague Open for sponsorship reasons) is a professional women's tennis tournament held in Pr ...

(singles and doubles) in December 2000 and the

Czech Open Czech Open is a name given to many sports events in the Czech Republic, including: *Czech International, a badminton tournament formerly known as the Czech Open * Czech Open (darts), a BDO sanctioned darts tournament * Czech Open (floorball), a flo ...

(doubles) in 2001 and 2005.

Personal life

Korda married

Regina Rajchrtová Regina Rajchrtová, married Kordová (5 February 1968) is a former tennis player from Czechoslovakia who competed for her native country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. On 1 April 1991 she reached a career world ranking high of 26. Person ...

, a former professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia. They have three children, the oldest of whom, Jessica, was born on 27 February 1993; she is a professional golfer, and finished 19th in the 2008 U.S. Women's Open as a 15-year-old, with Korda as her caddy. At the

2013 U.S. Women's Open The 2013 U.S. Women's Open was the 68th U.S. Women's Open, held June 27–30 at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, New York. It was first time the championship was played on Long Island and marked a return to the greater New York City area, wh ...

, Petr caddied for another of their daughters,

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal ...

, who was 14 years old at the time and the youngest player in the tournament. As of March 2022, Nelly was #2 ranked woman golfer in the world and has been ranked #1. His son, Sebastian, is also a tennis player and was the top-ranked junior in the world while representing the United States.http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/players/player/profile.aspx?PlayerID=100291609 Sebastian won the junior boys’ Australian Open title in 2018.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

ATP career finals

Singles: 27 (10 titles, 17 runners-up)

Doubles: 24 (10 titles, 14 runners-up)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Top 10 wins

References

External links

* * *
Sunday Times article 30 August, 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Korda, Petr 1968 births Living people Australian Open (tennis) champions Czech expatriates in Monaco Czech male tennis players Czech sportspeople in doping cases Czechoslovak male tennis players Doping cases in tennis French Open junior champions Hopman Cup competitors People from Monte Carlo Tennis players from Prague Wimbledon junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles Masters tennis players