Nelly Korda opens up about her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit experience for first time

The news of Sports Illustrated inviting Nelly Korda to model for its 2025 Swimsuit edition broke a couple of weeks ago, but the World No. 1 has now talked about it openly for the first time.

Her comments on her experience followed her opening round 4-under 66 at The ANNIKA.

“It was so cool,” Korda said Thursday.

“About probably two months ago, we got the call to do it. I knew that I was just going to be coming back from Asia. That was the original plan.”

Korda had to abandon that initial plan after she withdrew from two LPGA events in Asia due to a neck injury. She revealed that she had a migraine on the Tuesday before the Solheim Cup, which ultimately led her to take some time off to recuperate. Luckily, her schedule opened up significantly, making it easy for her to attend the photoshoot.

And the photoshoot, as she described, was “amazing.”

“I was very shy at first. I’m not used to doing anything like that, so outside my comfort zone,” Korda said.

“I think that’s what’s great about these opportunities: you get to step outside your comfort zone and do something different. I was just really excited for the opportunity to do this. I mean, it was so cool. The whole crew was amazing. By the end of the day, I was having so much fun with them.”

Korda had never seriously considered modeling for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition before, but she figured it would be a fun opportunity to do so.

“I’ve seen it, and [thought] ‘that would be cool to do one day,’” Korda added.

“To finally kind of get asked to do it was fun.”

Her Swimsuit modeling caps a career year that featured an appearance at the Met Gala, six wins on the LPGA, and receiving Player of the Year honors.