MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 22, 2026

Sebastian Korda

Press Conference

S. KORDA/C. Alcaraz

6-3, 5-7, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Congrats for this massive victory. How did you get it done today?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, I mean, it was a lot of tense moments, for sure. But I think today the ultimate thing was belief, going back to just believing, committing in every shot. Luckily I got it done at the end.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Carlos talked about serving out a match as being the toughest thing. You had two opportunities. Talk about the difference in both and how you got it done.

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Well, yeah, it's definitely the toughest thing to do in tennis. It's probably double the task when you're playing against Carlos. Yeah, I mean, you can feel his presence when there's an important moment. He plays his best tennis in important moments.

Yeah, I was kind of chuckling at myself at the changeover when I lost that 5-3 game in the third. I was like, Here we go again (smiling).

I learned from it. I knew I went out wide on the first serve in the second set. Wasn't going to go there again. Yeah, learned from it and happy with it.

Q. (Question regarding Ryan Harrison.)

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, it's a lot of fun. We work really hard. I think one of the best things about Ryan is we do the work, we talk it over, we discuss, then we try to be normal. We don't try to overdo it with the tennis, try to have too many emotions.

I think that's really been helping me, even after tough matches, talk it out, move on, learn from our mistakes, ultimately have fun again.

Q. This is your first time ever against a world No. 1. You're 1-0. What is your mind like going in? There's no pressure or there's a challenge and nerves going against a great player like that?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: No, I mean, honestly before the match I didn't even know I never played a world No. 1. Yeah, I mean, ultimately it's just a ranking. There's so many amazing players that could be world No. 1 right now.

But yeah, I mean, from the beginning, the whole day, all I wanted was just take care of my side of the court. Wasn't going to have a bad attitude, wasn't not going to be committed, and believing. I think that's one thing when you're playing against these higher ranked players, you kind of lose that belief a little bit.

From the whole match, that's all I wanted from myself.

Q. After Carlos broke you in the second set, you lost 14 out of 15 points. You were serving Love-1, Love-30. What did you change in that moment? The momentum was from Carlos, and after that you started to play well again.

SEBASTIAN KORDA: The good thing is I wasn't thinking about that, honestly (smiling). Yeah, that would have probably put me in a little more trouble.

I think that's one of the best things about tennis, everything can turn so fast. Jut like Carlos was 3-5 down, 15-30, to 7-5. It just goes in an instant. I think that's one of the keys in tennis, is to slow down, go back to what's been working.

Luckily Ryan, at that point he got up, was talking to me what to do a little bit better. Yeah, that was a massive key today.

Then relying on my serve. I think without my serve today I wouldn't be standing here right now.

Q. After you lost early at the Australian Open, you made the decision to go and play in San Diego. You made the final. You lost the final on the same day that Alcaraz won the career slam. What does that say to you about the depth of men's tennis and how you were able to get the win today?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, I mean, it's tricky, for sure. Obviously I needed certain things. That's the reason why I went to go play San Diego, was just to try to put myself in those stressful situations. I'd been injured for so long, missed so many months, got down a really dark hole. Yeah, those were important weeks for me to just kind of figure myself out. Yeah, obviously I wasn't playing the tennis I'm playing today.

Especially mentally, I didn't feel great. It gave me a little bit of a boost of confidence to throw myself back in those stressful situations, put myself in a match, live in those, yeah, kind of like nasty moments during a match, just those stressful environments.

Yeah, definitely helped me. If I didn't play San Diego, I don't think I'd be sitting here right now.

Q. You mentioned on the court that you did some soul searching. What does that mean for you?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, actually in Dallas I was actually super fortunate. John McEnroe was playing an XO there. He took a couple minutes out of his day just to talk to me. That's one of the things we really talked about, finding my identity on the court. Just talked about how I am as a human being, things that I'm going with.

Yeah, he was great, just taking the time out. Especially a player like him, incredible commentator as well. You just kind of see how he sees my game, what he thinks I can use to try and play better tennis.

One of the things he said was, You got to go soul searching, you got to figure out who you are, you got to figure out why you play tennis, why you love tennis.

Yeah, I think that's been a massive key for me. Grateful that he took the time out of his day to do that.

Q. Today a lot of the people were rooting for Carlos. How did you handle that on court?

SEBASTIAN KORDA: I love it. No, I love playing in like a hostile environment. Luckily I've played some of my best tennis when the crowd's against you. But they were great both sides. They weren't doing anything towards me.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun, especially when the crowd gets going. Doesn't matter whether it's for me or against me, I really enjoy playing in those environments. Hopefully I can keep climbing in the rankings. Hopefully people can come support me and, yeah, just try to enjoy the moment a little bit more.

Q. (No microphone.)

SEBASTIAN KORDA: The key for me recently is, yeah, win these tight matches and continue on the path that I'm going on. Obviously there's going to be moments that are bad, there's going to be moments that are good. But continue with the work, yeah, continue not doubting myself as much, not going back in any hole, for sure.

Q. (No microphone.)

SEBASTIAN KORDA: Yeah, American boys. The American boys, yeah (smiling).