Sebastian Korda named his cat Rafa

Rafael Nadal and Sebastian Korda

American tennis player Sebastian Korda developed such a bromance with Rafael Nadal that he once named his cat after the Spanish superstar. Now he gets the chance to take on the World No. 2 in an unlikely French Open Last-16 duel on Sunday. "Growing up, I named my cat Rafa after him. That says a lot about how much I love the guy," said Korda after seeing off Spain's Pedro Martinez 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 in Friday's third round.

Korda is ranked a lowly 213 in the world and is making his Paris debut having come through qualifying. Prior to this week, he had never won a match on the main tour. Nadal said he was "happy to hear that" when informed that Korda had named his cat after him and that he was the American's idol.

"It means that I have been on the TV for such a long time, that's the main thing. The same like when I was a kid, I was watching Sampras, Agassi, Carlos Moya etc."

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