NEW YORK (AP) — There was a time, not all that long ago, when any conversation about the up-and-coming U.S. players in men's tennis included a reference to Sebastian Korda. He made it to the fourth round of the 2020 French Open as a 20-year-old qualifier ranked No. 213 before losing to his idol, Rafael Nadal.
The following year, Korda became the youngest American man to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since Andy Roddick was a semifinalist there in 2003. And in 2023, Korda made it to the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career at the Australian Open.
Injuries derailed Korda's progress, though, including surgery on his right elbow last year and a stress fracture in his right shin this year. He was sidelined following the French Open in May until this week, when he returned to the tour at the hard-court Winston-Salem Open, a chance to prepare for the U.S. Open, which begins Sunday.
“It was a long time,” the 25-year-old Korda, who reached the Winston-Salem Open semifinals but withdrew because of an illness Friday, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But it's nice to be playing again.”
He grew up in as sports-forward a family as there is: His parents were professional tennis players — Mom, Regina, was ranked in the top 30, and Dad, Petr, won the 1998 Australian Open and was the runner-up at the 1992 French Open — and his sisters, Nelly (ranked No. 1 until recently) and Jessica, are professional golfers.
After the shin problem was confirmed by an MRI exam, Korda needed a bit of a break, and only was back to hitting balls at 100% about two weeks ago. But he didn't exactly come to a complete stop before that, still swinging a racket while sitting on a chair and wearing a boot to protect his leg.
“It’s been a lot of fun being back out here and running around,” Korda said. “Something I won’t ever take for granted again is being able to run pain-free.”
Just about exactly a year ago, he was at a career-high No. 15 in the ATP rankings thanks to winning the title in Washington and making it to the semifinals in Montreal.
Back then, there was little reason to believe he wasn't ready to keep on climbing, right alongside other Americans such as Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul.
But Korda's body wouldn't let him. First, he was out of action because of the operation on his elbow. Then came the trouble with the shin.
When the rankings points he earned in Washington and Montreal came off his record because he missed both events this year, Korda slid all the way down to No. 86.
Before getting to Winston-Salem, Korda had competed in only 21 matches in 2025, going 11-10.
“I definitely haven’t been playing healthy. That's kind of the main goal right now,” Korda said. “I'm not comparing myself to anyone, but definitely, there’s a lot of motivation from seeing your peers doing so well — Ben, Taylor, Frances, Tommy, (Alex) Michelsen, Learner (Tien). They're all pushing each other. We’re all pushing each other.”
FILE - Sebastian Korda of the U.S. celebrates winning the 4th set during the men's singles fourth round match against Russia's Karen Khachanov on day seven of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, July 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, file)
FILE - Sebastian Korda of the U.S. congratulates Spain's Rafael Nadal, right, with his win in the fourth round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Oct. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, file)
NEW YORK (AP) — Up until this week, Wall Street has generally benefited from the Trump administration’s policies and has been supportive of the president. That relationship has suddenly soured.
When President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law in July, it pushed another significant round of tax cuts and also cut the budget of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, at times the banking industry's nemesis, by nearly half. Trump’s bank regulators have also been pushing a deregulatory agenda that both banks and large corporations have embraced.
But now the president has proposed a one-year, 10% cap on the interest rate on credit cards, a lucrative business for many financial institutions, and his Department of Justice has launched an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that many say threatens the institution that is supposed to set interest rates free of political interference.
Bank CEOs warned the White House on Tuesday that Trump’s actions will do more harm than good to the American economy. But in response, Trump did not back down on his proposals or attacks on the Fed.
BNY Chief Executive Officer Robin Vince told reporters that going after the Fed’s independence “doesn’t seem, to us, to be accomplishing the administration’s primary objectives for things like affordability, reducing the cost of borrowing, reducing the cost of mortgages, reducing the cost of everyday living for Americans.”
“Let’s not shake the foundation of the bond market and potentially do something that could cause interest rates to actually get pushed up, because somehow there’s lack of confidence in the Fed’s independence,” Vince added.
The Federal Reserve’s independence is sacrosanct among the big banks. While banks may have wanted Powell and other Fed policymakers to move interest rates one way or another more quickly, they have generally understood why Powell has done what he's done.
“I don’t agree with everything the Fed has done. I do have enormous respect for Jay Powell, the man,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told reporters Tuesday.
Dimon's message did not seem to resonate with President Trump, who told journalists that Dimon is wrong in saying it’s not a great idea to chip away at the Federal Reserve’s independence by going after Chair Jerome Powell.
“Yeah, I think it’s fine what I’m doing,” Trump said Tuesday in response to a reporter’s question at Joint Base Andrews after returning from a day trip to Michigan. He called Powell “a bad Fed person” who has “done a bad job.”
Along with the attacks on the Fed, President Trump is going after the credit card industry. With “affordability” likely to be a key issue in this year’s midterm elections, Trump wants to lower costs for consumers and says he wants a 10% cap on credit card interest rates in place by Jan. 20. Whether he hopes to accomplish this by bullying the credit card industry into just capping interest rates voluntarily, or through some sort of executive action, is unclear.
The average interest rate on credit cards is between 19.65% and 21.5%, according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. A cap of 10% would likely cost banks roughly $100 billion in lost revenue per year, researchers at Vanderbilt University found. Shares of credit card companies like American Express, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Capital One and others fell sharply Monday as investors worried about the potential hit to profits these banks may face if an interest rate cap were implemented.
In a call with reporters, JPMorgan’s Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Barnum indicated the industry was willing to fight with all resources at its disposal to stop the Trump administration from capping those rates. JPMorgan is one of the nation's biggest credit card companies, with its customers collectively holding $239.4 billion in balances with the bank, and having major co-brand partnerships with companies such as United Airlines and Amazon. JPMorgan also recently acquired the Apple Card credit card portfolio from Goldman Sachs.
“Our belief is that actions like this will have the exact opposite consequence to what the administration wants in terms of helping consumers,” Barnum said. “Instead of lowering the price of credit, it will simply reduce the supply of credit, and that will be bad for everyone: consumers, the broader economy, and yes, for us, also.”
Even the major airline and hotel partners who partner with banks to issue their cards were also not pleased with the White House's push to cap interest rates.
“I think one of the big issues and challenges with (a potential cap) is the fact that it would actually restrict the lower end consumer from having access to any credit, not just what the interest rate they’re paying, which would upend the whole credit card industry,” said Ed Bastion, CEO of Delta Air Lines, to analysts on Tuesday. Delta has a major partnership with American Express, and its co-brand credit card brings in billions of dollars in revenue for Delta.
Trump seemed to double down on his attacks on the credit card industry overnight. In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, he said he endorsed a bill introduced by Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, that would likely cut into the revenue banks earn from merchants whenever they accept a credit card at point-of-sale.
“Everyone should support great Republican Senator Roger Marshall’s Credit Card Competition Act, in order to stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff,” Trump wrote.
Trump told reporters Tuesday that he was not going to back down the credit card interest rate issue.
“We should have lower rates. Jamie Dimon probably wants higher rates. Maybe he makes more money that way,” Trump said.
The comments from Wall Street are coming as the major banks report their quarterly results. JPMorgan, the nation’s largest consumer and investment bank, and The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., one of the world’s largest custodial banks, both reported their results Tuesday with Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and others to report later this week.
President Donald Trump arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
FILE - Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, speaks at the America Business Forum, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, file)
