FRENCH OPEN MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP : Korda Finally Gets a Good View of the Top

In Petr Korda’s advancement to today’s French Open final at Roland Garros Stadium, he didn’t face a seeded player in six matches.

That changes today on Center Court, when Korda, seeded seventh, meets No. 1 Jim Courier.

Korda has taken an easy path to his first Grand Slam final by defeating No. 43-ranked Christian Bergstrom of Sweden, No. 82 Shuzo Matsuoka of Japan, No. 60 Michiel Schapers of the Netherlands, No. 72 Jaime Oncins of Brazil, No. 34 Andrei Cherkasov of Russia and No. 200 Henri Leconte of France.

Not exactly the caliber of player Courier, of Dade City, Fla., has defeated. Courier has breezed past No. 216-ranked Niklas Kroon of Sweden, No. 22 Thomas Muster of Austria, No. 18 Alberto Mancini of Argentina, No. 175 Andrei Medvedev of the Ukraine, No. 9 Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia and No. 12 Andre Agassi of Las Vegas.

Only Korda, a lanky left-hander from Czechoslovakia, can stop him from winning his second Grand Slam event of the year and repeating as French Open champion. The last time a man repeated at Roland Garros was in 1987, when Ivan Lendl won his second in a row.

Few give Korda much chance of being anything other than cannon fodder for Courier, who has 22 victories in a row. So far, no one has come up with an effective strategy to challenge him.

“We’ve got to try something different,” said Korda’s coach, Vladimir Zednik, a former Czechoslovakian star. “It’s our only chance, to try something strange.”

Zednik’s theory was formulated after watching Courier destroy Agassi in Friday’s semifinal, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. Courier and Agassi have similar games, but obviously at different levels.

“I don’t think it is right to play the same game as Courier,” Zednik said.

Korda is 1-1 against Courier, but they have not played each other this year.

Still, Korda was not concerned about the championship match shortly after winning Friday’s semifinal over Leconte. He knew he already had come a long way.

“He told me at the beginning of the year that he can’t play on clay,” said Zednik, who believed otherwise.

After Korda and Czechoslovakia lost to the United States in Davis Cup play in Florida, Zednik worked with Korda on the red clay courts at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Sarasota.

“I wanted to show him,” Zednik said.

Korda, who until this tournament never advanced past the third round of a Grand Slam event, has responded in kind. He reached the final of the BMW Open in Munich and the semifinals of the Italian Open last month.

His career has been punctuated by victories at the minor stops on the Assn. of Tennis Professionals tour. Korda, 24, has been characterized as having the talent, but not the temperament, to be a champion. He has been told by Zednik to control his emotions on the court.

The way he remained calm against Leconte and thousands of French faithful rooting against him was something of a breakthrough. But whether he can withstand the Courier Express is another question.

As Agassi said: “Jim is an example for all of us.”

Courier could teach Korda something about control. It was not too long ago that he, too, let opponents get the best of him.

“I think he has changed a lot in the way he handles himself on the court,” said Brad Stine, who coaches Courier with Jose Higueras. “That is an area where we spent a lot of time talking.”

Courier, 21, seems to have settled into his ranking. When he first became the world’s top-ranked player last February, Higueras said he had trouble adjusting.

“I think it affected him a little bit,” Higueras said.

Courier continued to play well during tour stops in Asia. When he returned, Higueras asked Courier how he felt.

“He said, ‘Well, it’s no big news anymore,’ ” Higueras said.

Courier said the ranking is unimportant: Only his performance on the court matters. And in this tournament, he has dropped one set in six matches.

“I don’t think it’s any kind of invincibility,” Stine said.

Don’t ask Korda. He feigns ignorance when asked about Courier.

But then, Zednik does not want his protege thinking too much about tennis until he enters the locker room before a match.

“If I tell him the night before, he starts to think about it too much,” Zednik said.