It’s been a pretty tricky time of things for Sebastian Korda on the ATP Tour in 2025.
Korda missed Wimbledon with a leg injury and subsequently crashed out of the US Open in the first round.
Korda is a huge fan of Novak Djokovic, and he will be hoping that 2026 can be a better year for him as he tries to get some matches under his belt before this year draws to a close.
Korda was back in action in a Masters 1000 event last week but was beaten in the first round by Zizou Bergs to end his participation early.
The player did win three matches in Tokyo and Hangzhou before the 1000 event and yesterday he made a big move in the right direction.
Sebastian Korda claims Stockholm Open win over Alexei Popyrin
Korda came through a tough-looking match against Australian player Popyrin with aplomb.
All three of the seeds who played at the ATP 250 event on day one were knocked out, with Korda now having a good chance to progress further.
Korda came through in three sets, playing brilliant tennis after dropping the first set against the world number 36.
The challenge between now and the end of the year for Korda is to simply play more matches and take some momentum into the Australia and New Zealand swing at the start of 2026.
Korda is a better player than his current ranking of 60 suggests, and perhaps with one minor tweak, he could put himself into a better position to climb the rankings.
Sebastian Korda winning more tie-break sets could take him a long way
The 25-year-old’s win record on the ATP tour stands at 144 wins and 96 defeats, giving him a 60.0% win ratio – which is pretty impressive.
However, if he could just improve on his tie-break statistics, he could put himself in a position to win more matches.
Right now, his career tie-break numbers stand at 49.1%, with 56 won and 58 lost, suggesting he’s perhaps not quite winning enough of those sets that go all the way.
On the one-year list for tie-breaks, Korda is down at 63rd out of all the players on the tour, winning seven sets via a tie-break and losing eight.
Korda has made just a single quarterfinal this year and that came back at the start of the year in Miami.
A strong run at Stockholm might help his confidence and next year, it seems crystal clear what he needs to work on if he’s to climb the rankings.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
