Petr Korda
Petr became a professional tennis player in 1987 after a prolific junior career. He won his first career doubles title in 1988, and his first top-level singles title in 1991. In 1992, he progressed to the men's singles final at the French Open, where he was defeated in straight sets by the defending champion Jim Courier. Korda beat the swashbuckling Henri Leconte in front of the Frenchman's home fans to reach the final, but Courier was too consistent in the final. In 1996, he teamed-up with Stefan Edberg to win his first Grand Slam doubles title at the Australian Open.
The crowning moment of Korda's career came in 1998, when he faced Marcelo Ríos in the men's singles final at the Australian Open. Korda dominated the match from start to finish by winning in straight sets to claim his first (and only) Grand Slam singles title. The win propelled him to a career-high singles ranking of World No. 2. In a match which could have taken him to world number 1 in the rankings he lost 6-7 in the deciding set to Dutchman Richard Krajicek and was only 2 points away from being the world number 1.
Other highlights of Korda's career included winning the Grand Slam Cup in 1993, being part of the Czech Republic's team which won the Hopman Cup in 1994, and upsetting defending champion Pete Sampras in five sets in the fourth round of the 1997 US Open, en route to reaching the quarterfinals.
