Sebastian Korda made a bold claim at the Cinch Championships recently and it didn't age well as he crashed out of the 2023 Wimbledon early in the first round.
Korda didn't play at Wimbledon last year due to problems that he opted to overcome during the summer in order to be ready for the US Open stretch. He did play this year though he might have wished that he didn't.
The American played some really solid tennis in Queen's not too long ago proclaiming himself one of the favourites for Wimbledon. It was an eye-raising claim though it could be understood as the American has a really strong game for the surface.
He walked it back a day after making those claims but he didn't really back it up with this performance against Jiri Vesely. The Czech is a really solid player and while he didn't play that much lately he did produce a solid performance against Tsitsipas at Roland Garros. He did more than that in this one because he actually outplayed Korda by a big margin to send him packing early for Florida.
Korda will remember the opening set for a long time as he had two set points at 5-4 but wasted both. It proved very costly rather quickly as Vesely won the tiebreak 9-7. The Czech veteran was down 2-4 in that tiebreak and saved another set point, later on, to get it done despite not having a single break point.
The second set was the best one Korda played as it was pretty flawless without a single break point allowed taking it 6-4. He should have been up 2-0 at that moment as he didn't allow a single break point in the first two sets but the margins are very small on grass.
As a very streaky player, Korda was expected to turn the match around after winning that set but Vesely came out with a fury in the 3rd as Korda rushed from one error to another. The final set didn't go that much better either as the American completely butchered a rather favourable matchup for him.
A pretty solid performance from Korda as he didn't really play a terrible match. He had 19 aces, only 3 double faults; 61 winners, and 40 unforced errors. The error numbers were a bit too high for a grass match but that's how he plays tennis. He's very streaky so sometimes it's going to work and sometimes it won't.
Vesely himself was spectacular with 23 aces though 11 double faults as well. He had 58 winners and 36 unforced errors. Similar stats but Korda being 1 of 11 on break points is the crucial stat of the match.
He had momentum in the first two sets and should have been up 2-0 and that would have probably done it but he didn't and Vesely was able to finish off the sensational upset. Final score 7-6(7) 4-6 6-2 6-3 for the Czech.
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