Petr Korda

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 boys' doubles title at the French Open. Korda and Suk ranked the joint-world No. 1 junior doubles players that year.

Junior Slam results:

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 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

Following his quarterfinal match against Tim Henman at the 1998 Wimbledon Championships, Korda tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone. 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). 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

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. His son, Sebastian, is also a tennis player representing the United States and is as of 12th of July 2017 ranked number 1395 in singles.