Sebastian Korda, the rival with Nadal's pedigree who called his cat 'Rafa'

• Roland Garros.Altmaier, the rookie who has made more money in a week than in his entire career

For seasoned fans, Rafael Nadal's opponent this Sunday (12:30 pm, Eurosport) in the round of 16 will have, at least, an echo that the three men he crushed at this Roland Garros lacked.

Nor does

, coming from the previous one, debutant in the tournament, still knows firsthand how the 12-time champion spends it, but his name has the pedigree of who was champion of the Australian Open in 1998 and finalist in Paris for six years before.

"My father

and oversees everything, "says this 20-year-old who beat Spanish Pedro Martínez on Friday after leaving Isner behind in the second round. Sebastian,

, thus became the first tennis player outside the top-200 to be among the top 16 in the tournament since Arnaud di Pasquale did it in 2002. Shortly after achieving it, Hugo Gaston joined him, to the delight of the few French fans who were able to witness his triumph against Stanislas Wawrinka, champion in 2015, live. Born in Florida, where his father, a Czech, moved after testing positive for nandrolone and marrying Regina Rajchrtova, a former player who became 26th in the female ranking , Sebastian has been forged in the academy of the famous Nick Bollettieri.

Until his emergence at Roland Garros, his steps on the circuit had been timid: he lost from the beginning in the first round of the ATP 250 in New York in 2018, where he played with an invitation, he fell from the beginning a few weeks ago at the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati , after going through the previous one, and he did not take advantage of the wild card that was granted to him in the last US Open.

Golf sisters

Until now, Sebastian was one more member of a family of notable athletes.

His two sisters,

Jessica, 27, and Nelly, 22, are proven golf professionals

.

The little girl won the ANA Inspiration on the LPGA tour earlier this month.

Everything has changed with her triumphs at this Roland Garros, the first in a final draw of the ATP circuit, where her figure, with enormous physical resemblance to that of her father, has a well-earned prominence. Sebi, as she is also known

junior champion of the Australian Open in 2018

and number 1 in the category.

He used to move around challengers tournaments, with discreet results.

Before the pandemic, it peaked with the rooms of Canada's Drummondville.

His case could be one of many, another prominent kid who was stuck in the transition to playing with the elders. Peter, who was number two in the world, does not accompany him in Paris due to the complications that Covid-19 brings and the evolution of his two golfing daughters.

She does not travel with him often, but of course they are in constant contact.

"I don't think I could have gotten to where I am without him," he says.

His father was left-handed;

he is right-handed, like his mother.

Has a good two-handed backhand and handles better on fast surfaces

.

In fact, he hadn't played on clay before this Roland Garros.

"My father attacked the ball early, I do too, in a way. I'm an aggressive player. I try to enforce my serve and play fast points," he describes.

He often moves with Dean Goldfine, who coached Roddick and Todd Martin at the time, and the tournament is also a permanent surprise to him.

After beating Martínez, still waiting to know who his opponent would be in the second round, he called Nadal his idol.

"I named my cat Rafa in honor of him. It's one of the reasons I play tennis."

.

To continue reading for free

Sign inSign up

Or

and you will have access to all the web content of El Mundo

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more