Andy Murray’s opponent Korda comes from incredible sporting family

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Andy Murray faces Sebastian Korda for the first time on Friday in the Gijon Open quarter-final. The world No 47 has already taken out two Spanish players on their home turf this week, including third seed Roberto Bautista Agut, and will be a tough test for Murray. Outside of the tennis world Korda isn’t a well-known name, but he is just one talent in an incredible sporting family that includes a Grand Slam champion and No 1 golfer.

Korda will take on Murray in a bid to reach the last-four in Gijon on Friday, with his best result so far this year being a semi-final appearance on the clay in Estoril. The 22-year-old is a little-known opponent for the former world No 1 as this will mark their first meeting on the tour, as Korda only turned pro in 2018 – 13 years after Murray did.

But the three-time Major champion is well aware of the success in Korda’s family and has previously praised the American and his siblings for being “incredible”. The world No 47 isn’t the only athlete in his family with both of his parents being tennis players, most significantly his dad Petr Korda – a former world No 2 and 1998 Australian Open champion.

His mum Regina Rajchrtova was also a former pro who reached No 26 in the world, while Korda’s older sisters are golfing pros. 24-year-old Nelly Korda reached No 1 in the Women’s World Golf Rankings last year, also claiming Olympic gold in the women’s individual golf event and winning her first major at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

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Following her victory in Atlanta last June, Murray himself tweeted: “What the Korda family is doing is incredible.” And the sporting success doesn’t stop there, with Sebastian and Nelly’s sister, 29-year-old Jessica, also a professional golfer on the LPGA tour and has six wins to her name.

The 2021 Parma champion also paid tribute to his sister during Wimbledon last year, saying she had inspired him. “The last few days have been pretty crazy. My sister winning her first major and now at No 1 in the world is incredible,” he said at the time. 

“She’s 22 and already doing crazy stuff and it’s inspirational. But it’s my first Wimbledon, and I’m having a lot of fun as well.” The youngest Korda sibling could also have gone into sports other than tennis, playing ice hockey from the age of three until he joined his dad at the 2009 US Open aged nine and decided to take up tennis.

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He also won a golf tournament in Prague when he was 11, with Nelly also entered in the competition. And the golfer sisters have continued to joke about Korda’s ability despite not being a pro like them.

Sharing a video of his swing earlier this year, Jessica wrote: “When your brother has naturally beautiful lines in a golf swing,” while Nelly added: “How are your lines so nice? Hate you.” But Korda’s attention will be firmly on the tennis on Friday as he takes on Murray for the first time.

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