After reaching the SF of the 2023 Shanghai Masters, American tennis star Sebastian Korda shared his ultimate goal in his tennis career. He said, “My ultimate goal in tennis is to win two Grand Slams, one more than my dad.” Then last year, even Serena Williams’ former coach, Rick Macci, claimed, “If he can stay injury-free and play the entire year, a GRAND SLAM Title for Sebby Korda is very near.”However, consistency has been a challenge for Korda this season. He started well, reaching the Adelaide final and Miami quarterfinals, but has struggled since, recently being knocked out of the Madrid Open by Casper Ruud. To make matters worse, the 24-year-old recently experienced greater grief.

Well, tennis was a major part of his life while growing up. Both of his parents were heavily involved in the sport, and Sebastian Korda once revealed that his mother, Regina Rajchrtova, taught him to act like a cat on the court. “Both my parents always loved kind of how Stefan Edberg used to move on court, how silent he was, and he was like a cat at the net. That was always my mum’s favorite thing was to always try to be smooth on the court and not make any sound and kind of just flow around the court in a way.” From acting like a cat on the court to adopting one later on, Korda’s love for cats grew over time.

However, recently, the tennis star experienced a personal loss when his pet cat Rafi passed away on April 29. Sebastian Korda even shared an older picture of himself with his beloved cat on his IG stories with the caption, “Goodbye my friend 😔❤️.” Then, in another story, he shared glimpses of his cat with the caption, “Rest easy Rafi ❤️.”

Sebi is having a tough time both on and off the court at the moment. Only time will tell if he can get over this personal loss with a strong comeback in the rest of the tournaments in this clay-court season or not. But do you know that Korda isn’t the only one who shares a deep love for cats?

Even his girlfriend, Ivana Nedved, has a pet cat named Lulu. On Monday 28, she even shared a glimpse of her cat giving out a grumpy expression on her IG stories. Nedved jokingly captioned that post with, “The look Lulu gives me when I play the 56th consecutive series about a plane crash.” Talking about Korda’s pet, who recently passed away, do you know that his name was inspired by Rafael Nadal? Yes, you heard that right!

Sebastian Korda spills the beans about the secret behind naming his cat after Rafael Nadal

Sebastian Korda has faced Rafael Nadal twice in his career. The American has lost in both of these occasions, he shares a very strong admiration for the Spaniard. In an interview, he said, “He’s my biggest idol. He’s one of the reasons I play tennis. Just watching him play, unbelievable competitor. Just from him, I have the never-give-up mentality. Whenever I’m on court, I try to be like him.”

Highlighting his love for Nadal, Korda once revealed that he has two cats and one of them is named after Rafael Nadal. Speaking about that, he said, “Growing up, I named my cat Rafa after him. That says a lot about how much I love the guy (Nadal).” Even Rafael Nadal had previously showered praise on the American.

In 2021 during an interview, Nadal hailed Korda as a “complete player” and then went on to add, “I think I always believed since I saw him play that he is going to have the chance to be one of the best players of the world.”

Who, other than Sebastian Korda, has named their pet after the name of this tennis great? Well, interestingly, even Serena Williams shares a similar name for her pet. She brought a dog home back in 2017, which she named Christopher Chip Rafael Nadal. Williams is also a big fan of Nadal. And maybe it was just a way to honor the tennis star for whatever he has done for the sport. Did you know this before, though?