Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 2 singles ranking on February 2, 1998 and won the 1998 Australian Open. He tested positive for doping in June 1998 at Wimbledon, was subsequently banned from September 1999 for 12 months, although he retired shortly before the ban.^[2]

Tennis career[edit]

Juniors[edit]

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


• Wimbledon: QF (1986)


• US Open: QF (1986)

Professional career[edit]

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 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 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, Shuzo Matsuoka, Michiel Schapers, Jaime Oncins, Andrei Cherkasov and Henri Leconte, before he was defeated in straight sets by defending champion Jim Courier 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 and Michael Stich, 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 in 1994. In 1996 he teamed-up with Stefan Edberg to win the men's doubles title at the Australian Open. He also upset the defending champion, Pete Sampras, 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 Albert Portas, Scott Draper, Vincent Spadea, Cédric Pioline, Jonas Björkman and Karol Kučera to face Marcelo Ríos 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 Karol Kučera in Antwerp, Marcelo Ríos at Indian Wells, Tim Henman in Miami and Richard Krajicek in Monte Carlo.

Suspension and retirement[edit]

Following his quarterfinal match against Tim Henman at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships, Korda tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.^[3] This was publicly revealed in December 1998. At the time, Korda was stripped of the ranking points and prize money that he had won at 1998 Wimbledon, but was not banned from the sport. The ITF soon announced that it felt that it had made a mistake in not banning Korda, and would be seeking to appeal against its own decision not to ban Korda from tennis competition. London's High Court ruled in late January 1999 that the ITF could not appeal against its own initial decision, but Korda was later banned from tennis for 12 months from September 1999 and stripped of the prize money and ranking points that he had won since July 1998 (although the suspension meant little as Korda had retired after failing to qualify for 1999 Wimbledon, losing to Danny Sapsford in a qualifying match).^[1][4] He did, however, compete in the Prague Challenger in December 2000 and the Prostějov Challenger in both 2001 and 2005 (the former in singles and doubles, the latter two only in doubles).

Personal life[edit]

Korda married Regina Rajchrtová, 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, he caddied for another of their daughters, Nelly, who was 14 years old at the time and the youngest player in the tournament.^[5] His 17 year old son, Sebastian, is also a tennis player and is the top-ranked junior in the world while representing the United States.^[6][7] Sebastian won the junior boys Australian Open title in 2018.

Grand Slam finals[edit]

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)[edit]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1992	French Open	Clay	Jim Courier	5–7, 2–6, 1–6
Winner	1998	Australian Open	Hard	Marcelo Ríos	6–2, 6–2, 6–2

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)[edit]

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1990	French Open	Clay	Goran Ivanišević	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez Vicario	5–7, 3–6
Winner	1996	Australian Open	Hard	Stefan Edberg	Sébastien Lareau Alex O'Brien	7–5, 7–5, 4–6, 6–1

ATP career finals[edit]

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

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	30 October 1989	Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet	Kevin Curren	2–6, 5–7
Runner-up	2.	6 May 1991	Tampa, US	Clay	Richey Reneberg	6–4, 4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	3.	22 July 1991	Washington, D.C., US	Hard	Andre Agassi	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	29 July 1991	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Andrei Chesnokov	6–3, 4–6, 3–6
Winner	1.	19 August 1991	New Haven, US	Hard	Goran Ivanišević	6–4, 6–2
Winner	2.	14 October 1991	Berlin, Germany	Carpet	Arnaud Boetsch	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	5.	4 May 1992	Munich, Germany	Clay	Magnus Larsson	4–6, 6–4, 1–6
Runner-up	6.	8 June 1992	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Jim Courier	5–7, 2–6, 1–6
Winner	3.	20 July 1992	Washington, D.C., US	Hard	Henrik Holm	6–4, 6–4
Winner	4.	31 August 1992	Long Island, US	Hard	Ivan Lendl	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	7.	5 October 1992	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Boris Becker	6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	8.	12 October 1992	Toulouse, France	Hard (i)	Guy Forget	3–6, 2–6
Winner	5.	26 October 1992	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Gianluca Pozzi	6–3, 6–2, 5–7, 6–1
Runner-up	9.	23 August 1993	New Haven, US	Hard	Andrei Medvedev	5–7, 4–6
Runner-up	10.	11 October 1993	Sydney, Australia	Hard (i)	Jaime Yzaga	4–6, 6–4, 6–7(4–7), 6–7(7–9)
Winner	6.	13 December 1993	Grand Slam Cup, Munich, Germany	Carpet	Michael Stich	2–6, 6–4, 7–6(7–5), 2–6, 11–9
Runner-up	11.	14 February 1994	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Boris Becker	2–6, 6–3, 3–6
Runner-up	12.	7 March 1994	Indian Wells, US	Hard	Pete Sampras	6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	13.	2 May 1994	Munich, Germany	Clay	Michael Stich	2–6, 6–2, 3–6
Winner	7.	8 January 1996	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Younes El Aynaoui	7–6(7–5), 2–6, 7–6(7–5)
Runner-up	14.	22 July 1996	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Carpet	David Prinosil	1–6, 2–6
Runner-up	15.	16 June 1997	Halle, Germany	Grass	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–5), 6–7(7–9)
Runner-up	16.	21 July 1997	Washington, D.C., US	Hard	Michael Chang	7–5, 2–6, 1–6
Winner	8.	27 October 1997	Stuttgart, Germany	Carpet	Richard Krajicek	7–6(8–6), 6–2, 6–4
Runner-up	17.	10 November 1997	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6–7(2–7), 4–6
Winner	9.	12 January 1998	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Fabrice Santoro	6–0, 6–3
Winner	10.	2 February 1998	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Marcelo Ríos	6–2, 6–2, 6–2

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

Outcome	No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	1987	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Leonardo Lavalle Claudio Panatta	6–3, 4–6, 4–6
Winner	1.	1988	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Milan Šrejber	Andrés Gómez Emilio Sánchez	7–6, 7–6
Winner	2.	1988	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Clay	Jaroslav Navrátil	Thomas Muster Horst Skoff	7–5, 7–6
Runner-up	2.	1989	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Milan Šrejber	Cássio Motta Todd Witsken	4–6, 3–6
Winner	3.	1989	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Florin Segărceanu Cyril Suk	6–7, 6–3, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	1989	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Emilio Sánchez Javier Sánchez	5–7, 6–7
Runner-up	4.	1989	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Clay	Gene Mayer	Jordi Arrese Horst Skoff	4–6, 4–6
Winner	4.	1990	Monte-Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Andrés Gómez Javier Sánchez	6–2, 6–1
Runner-up	5.	1990	Munich, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Udo Riglewski Michael Stich	1–6, 4–6
Runner-up	6.	1990	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Goran Ivanišević	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	7.	1990	New Haven, US	Hard	Goran Ivanišević	Jeff Brown Scott Melville	6–2, 5–7, 0–6
Winner	5.	1991	New Haven, US	Hard	Wally Masur	Jeff Brown Scott Melville	W/O
Winner	6.	1991	Berlin, Germany	Carpet	Karel Nováček	Jan Siemerink Daniel Vacek	3–6, 7–5, 7–5
Runner-up	8.	1991	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	John McEnroe	Jakob Hlasek Patrick McEnroe	6–3, 6–7, 6–7
Runner-up	9.	1992	Monte-Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Karel Nováček	Boris Becker Michael Stich	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	10.	1992	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Cyril Suk	Hendrik Jan Davids Libor Pimek	W/O
Winner	7.	1993	Monte-Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Stefan Edberg	Paul Haarhuis Mark Koevermans	6–2, 2–6, 7–5
Winner	8.	1993	Halle, Germany	Grass	Cyril Suk	Mike Bauer Marc-Kevin Goellner	7–6, 5–7, 6–3
Winner	9.	1993	Cincinnati, US	Hard	Andre Agassi	Stefan Edberg Henrik Holm	6–4, 7–6
Runner-up	11.	1994	Munich, Germany	Clay	Boris Becker	Yevgeny Kafelnikov David Rikl	6–7, 5–7
Runner-up	12.	1995	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Karel Nováček	Boris Becker Guy Forget	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	13.	1995	Washington, D.C., US	Hard	Cyril Suk	Olivier Delaître Jeff Tarango	6–1, 3–6, 2–6
Winner	10.	1996	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Stefan Edberg	Sébastien Lareau Alex O'Brien	7–5, 7–5, 4–6, 6–1
Runner-up	14.	1996	Indianapolis, US	Hard	Cyril Suk	Jim Grabb Richey Reneberg	6–7, 6–4, 4–6

Performance timeline[edit]

Singles[edit]

Doubles[edit]

Top 10 wins[edit]

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	KR
1990
1.	Jay Berger	10	Philadelphia, United States	Carpet (i)	QF	7–6, 6–1	53
2.	Brad Gilbert	5	Davis Cup, Prague, Czechoslovakia	Carpet (i)	RR	6–2, 6–3, 6–3	26
1991
3.	Andre Agassi	6	Montreal, Canada	Hard	2R	7–6(7–3), 6–2	40
4.	Jim Courier	5	Montreal, Canada	Hard	SF	3–6, 7–6(7–1), 6–2	40
5.	Ivan Lendl	5	Stockholm, Sweden	Carpet (i)	3R	5–7, 6–1, 6–4	13
6.	Sergi Bruguera	9	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	3R	6–2, 6–4	11
1992
7.	Pete Sampras	4	Davis Cup, Fort Myers, United States	Hard	RR	6–4, 6–3, 2–6, 6–3	10
8.	Pete Sampras	4	Rome, Italy	Clay	QF	1–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–3	9
9.	Michael Stich	5	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	RR	6–3, 6–2	8
10.	Pete Sampras	3	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	RR	6–3, 6–1	8
11.	Stefan Edberg	2	Long Island, United States	Hard	SF	7–5, 7–5	6
12.	Ivan Lendl	9	Long Island, United States	Hard	F	6–2, 6–2	6
13.	Ivan Lendl	9	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	SF	6–4, 6–3	7
1993
14.	Stefan Edberg	3	Miami, United States	Hard	QF	7–6(7–3), 7–6(7–5)	5
15.	Michael Stich	10	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	RR	7–67–0, 6–1	6
16.	Stefan Edberg	3	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	RR	6–1, 6–1	6
17.	Michael Stich	7	Davis Cup, Halle, Germany	Grass	RR	6–2, 7–6(7–5)	9
18.	Ivan Lendl	7	Montreal, Canada	Hard	QF	7–6(7–4), 6–1	11
19.	Sergi Bruguera	4	Grand Slam Cup, Munich, Germany	Carpet (i)	QF	4–6, 6–0, 6–4	12
20.	Pete Sampras	1	Grand Slam Cup, Munich, Germany	Carpet (i)	SF	3–6, 7–6(7–3), 3–6, 7–6(12–10), 13–11	12
21.	Michael Stich	2	Grand Slam Cup, Munich, Germany	Carpet (i)	F	2–6, 6–4, 7–6(7–5), 2–6, 11–9	12
1994
22.	Goran Ivanišević	7	Milan, Italy	Carpet (i)	QF	6–4, 4–6, 6–2	14
23.	Sergi Bruguera	4	Milan, Italy	Carpet (i)	SF	4–6, 6–1, 6–4	14
24.	Todd Martin	9	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	3R	6–4, 3–6, 6–2	14
25.	Magnus Gustafsson	10	Munich, Germany	Clay	QF	6–4, 6–4	13
26.	Stefan Edberg	3	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	RR	6–1, 6–4	12
27.	Stefan Edberg	6	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	2R	4–6, 6–1, 6–4	20
1995
28.	Michael Chang	5	Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom	Grass	2R	6–4, 6–4, 6–4	56
1996
29.	Goran Ivanišević	5	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Carpet (i)	2R	7–6(7–5), 6–2	49
30.	Marcelo Ríos	10	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	2R	6–3, 6–4	37
1997
31.	Thomas Muster	4	Halle, Germany	Grass	QF	6–3, 6–4	27
32.	Pete Sampras	1	US Open, New York, United States	Hard	4R	6–7(4–7), 7–5, 7–6(7–2), 3–6, 7–6(7–3)	16
33.	Marcelo Ríos	10	Stuttgart, Germany	Carpet (i)	QF	6–3, 6–4	17
34.	Pat Rafter	3	Stuttgart, Germany	Carpet (i)	SF	6–4, 7–6(7–3)	17
1998
35.	Jonas Björkman	4	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	QF	3–6, 5–7, 6–3, 6–4, 6–2	7
36.	Marcelo Ríos	8	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	F	6–2, 6–2, 6–2	7
37.	Jonas Björkman	7	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	RR	6–3, 6–1	2

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• 
  Petr Korda at the Association of Tennis Professionals
  


• 
  Petr Korda at the International Tennis Federation
  


• 
  Petr Korda at the Davis Cup
  


• Sunday Times article 30 August, 2009


• Petr Korda Profile QA