Prettiest golf swing among the Kordas? Tennis pro Sebastian says ‘I don’t know about prettiest, but I do have a pretty good golf swing’

CINCINNATI — The line between tennis and golf in the Korda household is thinner than paper.

Sebastian Korda might be the best example of that.

The 21-year-old, who won his opening match at the Western & Southern Open Tuesday before bowing out the next day, chose to follow in the athletic footsteps of his parents, Petr and Regina, as a professional tennis player.

Sebastian’s older sisters, Jessica and Nelly, are LPGA stars who competed at the Tokyo Olympics, where Nelly won the gold medal. This week, they’re both playing in the AIG Women’s British Open in Scotland.

For the fans who made it out to the Lindner Family Tennis Center early Tuesday to watch Sebastian play, they got to see all the reasons why he’s ranked No. 45 in singles by the ATP Tour world rankings – a steady game with power, poise and the fitness to keep it from fading on a Cincinnati summer day.

What they didn’t see, though, might be just as interesting: his golf game.

Sebastian smiled during his post-match news conference when asked if he has the prettiest golf swing in his family.

“I don’t know about prettiest, but I do have a pretty good golf swing, yeah,” Sebastian grinned. “I have been playing golf basically my whole life because I would just be around my sisters.”

He’s never taken a golf lesson. He’s never needed one. Why would you, when your two older sisters are both world-class players?

A pro tennis career isn’t all that conducive to playing an occasional round of golf, but whenever Sebastian’s home he tries to squeeze in nine holes two or three times a week, a task made easier when you live a minute from a golf course and own a golf cart.

His handicap – the measurement by which all amateur golfers are irrationally judged – is between “2 to 3,” Sebastian said. For someone who dedicates an inordinate amount of time to an entirely different sport that’s just as difficult, it’s an impressive statistic.

“I can play some good golf,” said Sebastian. “I know there’s a couple of guys on (the ATP) tour, I know that Casper Ruud, he’s around a 2, and I think Jack Sock said he’s around a 2, as well. We’d have a pretty good match if we played.”

When his sister Nelly was roughly 7,000 miles away, competing for a gold medal less than two weeks ago, Sebastian said, “I was in Washington, D.C., at the time with my girlfriend, and right before the rain delay hit, I was, like, oh, no. It was already midnight, one in the morning. I was playing doubles the next day. But I went to bed for like 30 minutes and woke up just in time to finally watch them restart.

“Just a lot of nerves, but, I mean, I always knew she would have it in her, and I know how tough she is in certain situations. I know how she always prevails whenever she has a challenge like that in front of her.”

He texted her and went straight to bed. The next day, he called her.

“She was really pumped up,” he said. “She got on a flight pretty early to go to Europe to go prepare for the British Open. They have a busy schedule like us, and, yeah, hopefully, I’ll see her after Cincinnati. I’m pretty sure we’ll both be home. It will be cool to kind of celebrate a little bit with her.”