Sebastian Korda admitted it was “a surreal experience” to play against Novak Djokovic in a final.
Korda, 22, entered the Adelaide International final as the underdog but made Djokovic work extremely hard.
In the end, Korda fell just short of beating Djokovic as the Serb saved a championship point before beating the American 6-7 (8) 7-6 (3) 6-4.
Also, Korda was playing against Djokovic for the first time in his career.
“I’ve watched him play on TV pretty much my entire life. It has been an incredible experience for me. I was very close, but I am going to learn great things from the match as I always do. Unfortunate, but that’s why it’s so good. While playing the match, you have a lot of fun. When it comes to the crowd, they have been incredible. It is something surreal to play against Novak Djokovic in a final, something that I will not forget,” Korda said, per Punto de Break.
Korda came really close to beating Djokovic
Korda broke Djokovic in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead but then missed out on three consecutive set points in the 10th game.
But after missing out on three set points, Korda also saved a set point in the 12th game to force a tie-break.
In the tie-break, Korda saved one more set point before realizing his seventh set point to win an extremely tight first set.
In the 12th game of the second set – when Djokovic was serving to stay in the match – Korda didn’t convert a championship point.
After saving a championship point, Djokovic pretty much dominated the second-set tie-break to send the match into a decider.
In the fourth game of the second set, Djokovic missed out on two break points.
But in the 10th game – when Korda was serving to stay in the match – Djokovic claimed the first break of the third set to complete his comeback win.
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