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Meet Sebastian Korda: The Rafael Nadal fan who defeated Carlos Alcaraz at Miami Masters
Sebastian Korda became the lowest-ranked player since David Goffin last year to defeat Carlos Alcaraz when he won the third round clash of the 2026 Miami Masters in three sets on Sunday.
Carlos Alcaraz fell 3-6 7-5 6-4 to the 32nd seed Sebastian Korda in the second round of the Miami Masters. (Reuters Photo)
Carlos Alcaraz’s hard-court swing after winning the 2026 Australian Open saw a second dent in a row on Sunday after he was knocked out in the third round of the Miami 1000 Masters by United States’ Sebastian Korda.
The Spaniard fell 3-6 7-5 6-4 to the 32nd seed – the lowest-ranked seed in the draw – who pulled off a feat not seen in over two decades: no player ranked as low among the seeds had beaten a Masters 1000 top seed since Rafael Nadal did it in 2004.
He also became the lowest-ranked opponent – 36th – to defeat the Spaniard since David Goffin beat him at the Miami Masters last year, when he was ranked 55th in the world.
Here are a few more things to know about Korda:
1. Before defeating Alcaraz on Sunday, Korda already carried a family lineage in tennis. His father, Petr Korda, once reached a career-high ranking of World No. 2 and won two Grand Slams, taking the Australian Open doubles title with Stefan Edberg in 1996 and the singles title in 1998.
Sebi SPECIAL 🙌
The moment @SebiKorda defeated Carlos Alcaraz for his first ever win over a reigning No. 1!#MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/iTBpMLBRw6
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 22, 2026
2. Tennis, however, was not his favoured sport growing up. The 25-year-old flirted with ice hockey – until the age of nine, when something clicked watching the tour up close. “When I was growing up, besides tennis, I did ice hockey, golf, taekwondo, among other things. I wanted to try out a lot. Fortunately, my parents gave me plenty of room for this. They also never pushed me towards tennis,” Korda had told Libema open website.
3. The ability to raise his game on hard courts is something that has been ingrained in Korda since he was young. He won the junior boys title of the 2018 Australian Open, even terming it as one of the greatest moments of his tennis career.
4. Korda grew up watching and playing tennis in a generation where Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal polarised opinions among the up-and-coming stars. Korda belonged to the latter category and also admired Marat Safin and Radek Stepanek. “My dad (Petr) always inspired me. I always loved watching Nadal. He always inspires me. Radek Stepanek. And Marat Safin,” he had told Tennis Prose. His admiration for Nadal went to such an extent that Korda even named his cat “Rafa.” He once spoke about Nadal’s humility and demeanour as something “amazing,” a quality he tries to internalise.
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5. Korda’s story isn’t a smooth ascent. Injuries – especially to the wrist – have hampered his career, but also played a role in reshaping it.
6. The win over Alcaraz marks the second time in as many weeks that a player has managed to overcome the Sincaraz challenge. Daniil Medvedev got the better of the seven-time Grand Slam champion in the Indian Wells Masters semi-final to hand the Spaniard his first defeat of 2026. While Alcaraz admitted that he had not seen the Russian play the way he did, he admitted that he was still playing well, and it needed an opponent to slog it out for a few hours to defeat him.
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