Petr Korda

Petr Korda

Country (sports)	Czech Republic
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Height	6'3 (190 cm)
Turned pro	1987
Retired	2000
Plays	Left-handed
Prize money	US$10,448,900
Singles
Career record	410–248
Career titles	10
Highest ranking	2 (2 February 1998)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	W (1998)
French Open	F (1992)
Wimbledon	QF (1998)
US Open	QF (1995, 1997)
Doubles
Career record	234–160
Career titles	10
Highest ranking	10 (11 June 1990)
Last updated on: 22 January 2007.

Petr Korda (Pronounced: KOR-da ) (b. 23 January 1968, in Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a former professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. He is best known for winning the Australian Open in 1998 and for becoming the first well-known player to be suspended for ingesting a banned substance shortly thereafter.

Career

Junior

Korda 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.

Senior

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, where 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. In a match which could have taken him to world number 1 in the rankings he lost 6-7 in the deciding set to Dutchman Richard Krajicek and was only 2 points away from being the world number 1.(His career-high doubles ranking was World No. 10.)

Other highlights of Korda's career included winning the Grand Slam Cup in 1993, being part of the Czech Republic's team which won the Hopman Cup in 1994, and upsetting defending champion Pete Sampras in five sets in the fourth round of the 1997 US Open, en route to reaching the quarterfinals.

A few months after his Australian Open victory in 1998, Korda became the first high-profile tennis player discovered ingesting a banned substance. Following a match at Wimbledon, Korda tested positive for nandrolone. Subsequently, he was banned from the sport for one year. Korda did not return to the professional tour; the ban effectively marked the end of his career.

Korda married a former professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia, Regina Rajchrtova. They have a daughter named Jessica Regina, born on 27 February 1993. Jessica is an amateur golfer, and finished 19th in the 2008 U.S. Women's Open as a 15-year-old, with Korda as her caddy.

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

Grand Slam singles finals

Win (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1998	Australian Open	Marcelo Ríos	6–2, 6–2, 6–2

Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1992	French Open	Jim Courier	7–5, 6–2, 6–1

Singles finals

Wins (10)

Legend Grand Slam (1) Tennis Masters Cup (0) Grand Slam Cup (1) ATP Masters Series (1) ATP Tour (7)

Titles by Surface Hard (6) Grass (0) Clay (0) Carpet (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	19 August 1991	New Haven, U.S.	Hard	Goran Ivanišević	6–4, 6–2
2.	14 October 1991	Berlin, Germany	Carpet	Arnaud Boetsch	6–3, 6–4
3.	20 July 1992	Washington, D.C.	Hard	Henrik Holm	6–4, 6–4
4.	31 August 1992	Long Island, New York, U.S.	Hard	Ivan Lendl	6–2, 6–2
5.	26 October 1992	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Gianluca Pozzi	6–3, 6–2, 5–7, 6–1
6.	13 December 1993	Grand Slam Cup, Munich	Carpet	Michael Stich	2–6, 6–4, 7–6, 2–6, 11-9
7.	8 January 1996	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Younes El Aynaoui	7–6, 2–6, 7–6
8.	27 October 1997	Stuttgart Indoor, Germany	Carpet	Richard Krajicek	7–6, 6–2, 6–4
9.	12 January 1998	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Fabrice Santoro	6–0, 6–3
10.	2 February 1998	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Marcelo Ríos	6–2, 6–2, 6–2

Runner-ups (17)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	30 October 1989	Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet	Kevin Curren	6–2, 7–5
2.	6 May 1991	Tampa, Florida, U.S.	Clay	Richey Reneberg	4–6, 6–4, 6–2
3.	22 July 1991	Washington, D.C.	Hard	Andre Agassi	6–3, 6–4
4.	29 July 1991	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Andrei Chesnokov	3–6, 6–4, 6–3
5.	4 May 1992	Munich, Germany	Clay	Magnus Larsson	6–4, 4–6, 6–1
6.	8 June 1992	French Open, Paris	Clay	Jim Courier	7–5, 6–2, 6–1
7.	5 October 1992	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Boris Becker	3–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4
8.	12 October 1992	Toulouse, France	Hard (i)	Guy Forget	6–3, 6–2
9.	23 August 1993	New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.	Hard	Andrei Medvedev	7–5, 6–4
10.	11 October 1993	Sydney Indoor, Australia	Hard (i)	Jaime Yzaga	6–4, 4–6, 7–6, 7–6
11.	14 February 1994	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Boris Becker	6–2, 3–6, 6–3
12.	7 March 1994	Indian Wells, California, U.S.	Hard	Pete Sampras	4–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2
13.	2 May 1994	Munich, Germany	Clay	Michael Stich	6–2, 2–6, 6–3
14.	22 July 1996	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Carpet	David Prinosil	6–1, 6–2
15.	16 June 1997	Halle, Germany	Grass	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	7–6, 6–7, 7–6
16.	21 July 1997	Washington, D.C.	Hard	Michael Chang	5–7, 6–2, 6–1
17.	10 November 1997	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	7–6, 6–4

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Australian Open	A	A	A	2R	2R	1R	QF	1R	3R	1R	1R	W	3R
French Open	A	2R	A	2R	2R	F	2R	1R	1R	3R	4R	1R	2R
Wimbledon	A	3R	A	1R	1R	2R	4R	2R	4R	A	4R	QF	A
US Open	A	1R	A	2R	1R	1R	1R	A	QF	3R	QF	1R	A

A = did not participate in the tournament

Doubles finals

Wins (10)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	1988	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Milan Šrejber	Andrés Gómez Emilio Sánchez	7–6, 7–6
2.	1988	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Clay	Jaroslav Navratil	Thomas Muster Horst Skoff	7–5, 7–6
3.	1989	Stuttgart Outdoor, 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, U.S.	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, U.S.	Hard	Andre Agassi	Stefan Edberg Henrik Holm	6–4, 7–6
10.	1996	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Stefan Edberg	Sébastien Lareau Alex O'Brien	7–5, 7–5, 4–6, 6–1

Runner-ups (14)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	1987	Palermo, Italy	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Leonardo Lavalle Claudio Panatta	3–6, 6–4, 6–4
2.	1989	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Milan Šrejber	Cassio Motta Todd Witsken	6–4, 6–3
3.	1989	Kitzbuhel, Austria	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Emilio Sánchez Javier Sánchez	7–5, 7–6
4.	1989	Prague, Czechoslovakia	Clay	Gene Mayer	Jordi Arrese Horst Skoff	6–4, 6–4
5.	1990	Munich, Germany	Clay	Tomáš Šmíd	Udo Riglewski Michael Stich	6–1, 6–4
6.	1990	French Open, Paris	Clay	Goran Ivanišević	Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez	7–5, 6–3
7.	1990	New Haven, U.S.	Hard	Goran Ivanišević	Jeff Brown Scott Melville	2–6, 7–5, 6–0
8.	1991	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	John McEnroe	Jakob Hlasek Patrick McEnroe	3–6, 7–6, 7–6
9.	1992	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Karel Nováček	Boris Becker Michael Stich	6–4, 6–4
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	7–6, 7–5
12.	1995	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Karel Nováček	Boris Becker Guy Forget	6–2, 6–4
13.	1995	Washington D.C., U.S.	Hard	Cyril Suk	Olivier Delaître Jeff Tarango	1–6, 6–3, 6–2
14.	1996	Indianapolis, U.S.	Hard	Cyril Suk	Jim Grabb Richey Reneberg	7–6, 4–6, 6–4

See also

• List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences

External links

• Official ATP Profile