Petr Korda

Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional tennis player. As of 2016, Korda remains the last man from the Czech Republic to have won a Grand Slam singles title, at the Australian Open in 1998.^[2] He tested positive for steroids several months after winning the Australian Open, was subsequently banned, and retired shortly thereafter.^[3]

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 to win the boy's 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)

Pro tour

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.

In 1990 Korda and Goran Ivanišević finished runners-up in the men's doubles at the French Open. 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. In 1996 he teamed-up with Stefan Edberg to win the men's doubles title at the Australian Open.

The crowning moment of Korda's career came in 1998, when he faced 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 (and only) Grand Slam singles title. 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. Korda's career-high doubles ranking was World No. 10.

Other highlights 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, and he upset defending champion, Pete Sampras, in five sets in the fourth round of the 1997 US Open.

Korda also was known for the "Scissors Kick" which he would do at midcourt after winning matches.

Personal life

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.^[4]

Suspension and retirement

Following his quarterfinal match against Tim Henman at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships, Korda tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.^[5] 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 they felt that they 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 their 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][6] 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).

Grand Slam finals

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

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

Men's doubles: 2 finals (1 title, 1 runner-up)

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

Career finals

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

Wins (10)

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, USA	Clay	Richey Reneberg	6–4, 4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	3.	22 July 1991	Washington, D.C., USA	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, USA	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., USA	Hard	Henrik Holm	6–4, 6–4
Winner	4.	31 August 1992	Long Island, USA	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, USA	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, USA	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., USA	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 finals (10 titles, 14 runners-up)

Wins (10)

No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
1.	1988	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Milan Šrejber	Andrés Gómez Emilio Sánchez	7–6, 7–6
2.	1988	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Clay	Jaroslav Navrátil	Thomas Muster Horst Skoff	7–5, 7–6
3.	1989	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Florin Segărceanu Cyril Suk	6–7, 6–3, 6–1
4.	1990	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Andrés Gómez Javier Sánchez	6–2, 6–1
5.	1991	New Haven, USA	Hard	Wally Masur	Jeff Brown Scott Melville	W/O
6.	1991	Berlin, Germany	Carpet	Karel Nováček	Jan Siemerink Daniel Vacek	3–6, 7–5, 7–5
7.	1993	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Stefan Edberg	Paul Haarhuis Mark Koevermans	6–2, 2–6, 7–5
8.	1993	Halle, Germany	Grass	Cyril Suk	Mike Bauer Marc-Kevin Goellner	7–6, 5–7, 6–3
9.	1993	Cincinnati, USA	Hard	Andre Agassi	Stefan Edberg Henrik Holm	6–4, 7–6
10.	1996	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Stefan Edberg	Sébastien Lareau Alex O'Brien	7–5, 7–5, 4–6, 6–1

Runners-up (14)

No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
1.	1987	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Leonardo Lavalle Claudio Panatta	6–3, 4–6, 4–6
2.	1989	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Milan Šrejber	Cássio Motta Todd Witsken	4–6, 3–6
3.	1989	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Emilio Sánchez Javier Sánchez	5–7, 6–7
4.	1989	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Clay	Gene Mayer	Jordi Arrese Horst Skoff	4–6, 4–6
5.	1990	Munich, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Udo Riglewski Michael Stich	1–6, 4–6
6.	1990	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	Goran Ivanišević	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	5–7, 3–6
7.	1990	New Haven, USA	Hard	Goran Ivanišević	Jeff Brown Scott Melville	6–2, 5–7, 0–6
8.	1991	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	John McEnroe	Jakob Hlasek Patrick McEnroe	6–3, 6–7, 6–7
9.	1992	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Karel Nováček	Boris Becker Michael Stich	4–6, 4–6
10.	1992	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Cyril Suk	Hendrik Jan Davids Libor Pimek	W/O
11.	1994	Munich, Germany	Clay	Boris Becker	Yevgeny Kafelnikov David Rikl	6–7, 5–7
12.	1995	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Karel Nováček	Boris Becker Guy Forget	2–6, 4–6
13.	1995	Washington, D.C., USA	Hard	Cyril Suk	Olivier Delaître Jeff Tarango	6–1, 3–6, 2–6
14.	1996	Indianapolis, USA	Hard	Cyril Suk	Jim Grabb Richey Reneberg	6–7, 6–4, 4–6

Singles performance timeline

Doubles performance timeline

References

External links

• 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