Sebastian Korda surprised everyone when he opted to skip the qualifiers for the 2021 Australian Open. Having won the juniors title at the 2018 Australian Open, tennis fans expected Korda to play at the qualifiers to grab a chance to compete in the main draw at Melbourne Park. However, Korda decided to participate in other tournaments instead.

The 20-year-old reached the first final of his career at the 2021 Delray Beach Open and finished as the runner-up at the ATP 250 event. Subsequently, Korda took part in the Open Quimper Bretagne held in France, where he won the tournament by defeating Filip Horansky in straight sets in the final.

Sebastian Korda’s decision pays off

After Korda won the title at ATP Challenger Quimper, an interesting tweet was posted by Blair Henley, a talk show host. Henley recalled when she had asked Korda about his decision to play the Delray Beach Open and the Challenger Quimper instead of the Australian Open qualifiers.

In the tweet, Henley added Korda’s answer to her question, which seems to have been the right decision in hindsight. Korda replied that sometimes one has to take risks in order to claim the reward, an answer that has proven to be prophetic.

“Sometimes you gotta risk it for the biscuit,” said Korda, in reply to Henley’s question.

The American has already added 250 points to his ranking so far in 2021, and his decision to skip the qualifiers of the

Australian Open has been a smart one. Last year, Korda registered the best result in a Grand Slam event by reaching the fourth round of the French Open.

He ended the 2020 season by clinching his maiden professional title at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Eckental. Korda spent his off-season training with 8-time Grand Slam champion, Andre Agassi, and revealed it was an exceptional learning experience.