Denis Kudla ( ; born August 17, 1992) is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
professional
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...
player. A product of the
Junior Tennis Champions Center
The Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) is a tennis training center and preparatory school in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1999, JTCC trains junior, collegiate and professional tennis players.
The center hosts United States Tennis As ...
, he has won eight Challenger singles titles and nine Challenger doubles titles in his career. His career-high ATP singles ranking is World No. 53, achieved in May 2016. His career-high ATP doubles ranking is World No. 133, achieved in August 2018.
Personal life
Kudla's family moved from
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
to
Fairfax, Virginia
The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...
on his first birthday. He began playing tennis at age 7, in part because his older brother Nikita played tennis, but also because many of his father's friends played. He would tag along as Nikita took informal lessons from their father in Fairfax's Van Dyck Park. Kudla's father, Vladimir Kudla, took his family out of Ukraine shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed. Kudla's parents came to the USA not speaking a word of English, but learned it within a few years.
His mother got permission to pick him up from elementary school one hour early so they could go from Fairfax to the
Junior Tennis Champions Center
The Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) is a tennis training center and preparatory school in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1999, JTCC trains junior, collegiate and professional tennis players.
The center hosts United States Tennis As ...
(JTCC) in
College Park, Maryland
College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is approximately four miles (6.4 km) from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. The population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States Census. It is best known ...
, where she'd wait through his two-hour practices, drive him home while he slept, then wake him for dinner and homework. At age 13, they moved to Arlington, where Kudla was set to matriculate at
Washington-Lee High School
Washington-Liberty High School, formerly known as Washington-Lee High School, is a public high school in the Arlington Public Schools district in Arlington, Virginia, covering grades 9–12. Its attendance area serves the central third of A ...
. But six hours of court time each day left no room for traditional high school, so starting in ninth grade, he was home-schooled at JTCC and had to commute on his own to practice in College Park via Metro, lugging two racket bags and changing trains twice during rush hour. "My parents were strict, but not crazy strict. I was never spoiled. I wanted tennis. It was always my dream." One of Kudla's favorite experiences was visiting the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
for the 2013 Easter Egg Roll as he got to meet President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
, and NFL Pro Bowlers
Anquan Boldin
Anquan Kenmile Boldin Sr. (; born October 3, 1980) is a former American football wide receiver who played 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida State University and was drafted by the Arizona Ca ...
and
Adrian Peterson
Adrian Lewis Peterson (born March 21, 1985) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football history. He played college football at Oklahoma, where he set the ...
.
Kudla is an avid fan of sports, as he supports the
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...
,
Washington Capitals
The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, a ...
,
Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...
,
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...
and occasionally the
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
,
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...
, and
Boston Celtics. Kudla models his game after Spaniard
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour ( ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a major, ...
, and his idol is
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
.
Early in his career, Kudla worked out with trainer Greg Petrosian in
Boca Raton, Florida, where he still trains. He was previously coached by Billy Heiser and
Diego Moyano
Diego Moyano (born 14 March 1975) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Diego is coaching Coco Gauff. He coached previously Kevin Anderson (tennis), Kevin Anderson from 2020 until his retirement in May 2022.
He also previously wo ...
.
Playing equipment and sponsorships
Kudla started playing tennis with a Head racquet, and then switched to Wilson when he was 11. Kudla was sponsored by Wilson early in his career and later signed a contract with
Tecnifibre
Tecnifibre is a French manufacturer of sporting equipment, specializing in tennis and squash. It was founded in 1979 by the current CEO Thierry Maissant. Throughout its development, Tecnifibre has built itself a worldwide reputation in the tennis ...
in 2010. Kudla used Luxilon strings, but switched to
Tecnifibre
Tecnifibre is a French manufacturer of sporting equipment, specializing in tennis and squash. It was founded in 1979 by the current CEO Thierry Maissant. Throughout its development, Tecnifibre has built itself a worldwide reputation in the tennis ...
string. He likes to hit his balls a little flatter, so Luxilon had given him that little extra pop. Kudla generally strings his racquets at 51 both ways. He restrings his racquets for practice, but plays with new ones during matches. He estimates that he spends around $12,000 a year on stringing each year.
Kudla has a sponsorship deal with
Lacoste
Lacoste S.A. is a French company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste, and entrepreneur Mangkha. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels and watches. The company can be recognised by its g ...
, and is represented by tennis agent Sam Duvall at Topnotch Management.
Junior tennis
By age ten, Kudla had enrolled at the US Tennis Association's prestigious
regional training center at
College Park, Maryland
College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is approximately four miles (6.4 km) from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. The population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States Census. It is best known ...
. There, he was able to practice and play alongside other rising young American stars and learn from some of the country's finest coaches. "It was a great environment to be there", Kudla says. "All my friends were close; I got to live at home and play at one of the best academies in the country." In 2008 as the number one seed, he won the 16-and-under age bracket at the Orange Bowl, beating future University of Virginia tennis player, Mitchell Frank. At the time, both players trained together at College Park. With the win, which was his first in major international competition, Kudla became the first American to win the Boys’ 16s title since
Donald Young in 2003. Kudla also participated in the 2008 BNP Paribas Showdown vs
Junior A. Ore at Madison Square Garden, as they were the under-card for
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
and
Pete Sampras who competed against each other afterwards. Soon after, Kudla turned pro even though he had great interest from the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
as he was the 2nd ranked senior in the nation. Kudla reached a career-high combined junior ranking of world no. 3. He believes the turning point in his junior tennis career was when he came from behind to beat junior tennis prodigy Trey Hatcher of Knoxville, Tennessee 7–5, 7–6 at the Boys 12s National Hard Court Championships in 2003. His best result was reaching the final of the
2010 US Open for boys, where, despite taking the first set, he lost the final to
Jack Sock
Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
.
Professional career
2008–2011: ATP debut
Kudla reached the semifinals of his second professional tour event, U.S.A. F15
ITF Futures
The ITF World Tennis Tour (formerly known as the ''ITF Men's World Tennis Tour'', and previously ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. ...
event, held in New York in June 2008.
He first played an ATP Tour main-draw match six weeks later, in doubles at the
2008 Legg Mason Tennis Classic, partnering with fellow junior
Junior A. Ore. The pair, a wildcard entry, lost their first-round match to
Lucas Arnold Ker
Lucas Arnold Ker (; born 12 October 1974) is an Argentine former professional tennis player.
Arnold Ker started playing tennis in the Olivos Tenis Club of Buenos Aires, under coach Malcolm Campbell. He is the younger brother of Patricio Arnol ...
, and
Eduardo Schwank
Eduardo Jonatan Schwank (; also known as ''Schwanka''; born 23 April 1986) is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina. In 2011, he reached the finals of the French Open in men's doubles partnering Juan Sebastian Cabal and of the US ...
. Two years later, he was given a wildcard for the singles main draw of the
2010 Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships and reached the second round, where he lost to fellow American
Ryan Harrison
Ryan Harrison (born May 7, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. Harrison has won one career ATP title in singles at the 2017 Memphis Open to go along with four in doubles, including the 2017 French Open.
Before turning 16, Harriso ...
.
His first tour-level doubles match win came in reaching the second round in doubles at the
2011 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas partnering
Donald Young. Kudla reached the quarterfinals in singles at the
2011 Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, having knocked off big-serving
Ivo Karlović
Ivo Karlović (; born 28 February 1979) is a former Croatian professional tennis player. His height of 211 cm (6 ft 11 in) makes him the joint tallest ranked tennis player in history, along with Reilly Opelka. He has won eight ATP sin ...
in three sets, and then second seed
Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved o ...
. Kudla lost to qualifier
Michael Yani in three sets in the quarterfinals.
Kudla played his first
Legg Mason Tennis Classic
The Washington Open (known as the Citi Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual hardcourt tennis tournament played at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. The Washington Open is part of the ATP Tour 5 ...
in Washington, D.C. in 2011, losing in the first round to
Tobias Kamke
Tobias Kamke (born 21 May 1986) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 64 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in January 2011. In 2010, Kamke was awarde ...
.
2012–2013: Grand Slam tournament debut
In 2012, Kudla qualified for the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time at the Australian Open. He lost in the first round to
Tommy Haas
Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...
. He qualified for the
2012 SAP Open
The 2012 SAP Open was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 124th edition of the SAP Open, and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2012 ATP World Tour. It took place at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, ...
in San Jose, California and beat
Jack Sock
Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
in the first round. In March 2012, Denis Kudla lost to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
in the second round of
Indian Wells Masters
The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is ...
tournament.
In 2013 at the
Australian Open he lost in the first round of qualifying to
Julian Reister
Julian Reister (; born 2 April 1986) is a German retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 83, achieved in November 2013. Reister reached the quarterfinals of Buenos Aires in 2013 as a qualifier.
Career 2 ...
. Then at the
French Open he qualified for the main draw before losing to
Jan Hájek. At
Wimbledon he again qualified for the main draw and won his first grand slam match against
James Duckworth. He could not repeat the victory, losing to
Ivan Dodig
Ivan Dodig (; born 2 January 1985) is a Croatian professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles.
He is a six-time Grand Slam champion, having won men's doubles titles at the 2015 French Open with Marcelo Melo, and the 2021 Au ...
while plagued with a back injury throughout the three sets. At the
2013 US Open, he beat
Jiří Veselý
Jiří Veselý (; born 10 July 1993) is a Czech professional tennis player.
He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 35 on 27 April 2015. He is currently the No. 2 Czech tennis player in singles, as he lost his previous ...
in four set before losing to
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champi ...
.
2014–2015: Wimbledon fourth round
After a lackluster start to the 2014 season, he was able to qualify and win his first match at
Wimbledon against
Marsel İlhan
Marsel İlhan ( uz, Marsel Qahhorovich Hamdamov; born 11 June 1987) is a Turkish professional tennis player, who was ranked No. 1 in Turkey and with a career-high singles ranking of world No. 77 in March 2015. He is the first ever Turki ...
, before falling to
Kei Nishikori
is an inactive Japanese professional tennis player. He is the second male Japanese player to have been ranked in the top 5 in singles (after Jiro Sato), and the only one to do so in the Open Era. Nishikori first reached his career-high singles ...
. The following week, he returned to the US and won the 2014
Winnetka Challenger. He had a bout with mononucleosis, however, that caused him to miss most of the fall schedule.
He returned to form in the 2015 grass-court season, making the finals of Subiton Challenger, before avenging his finals loss the following week to defeat
Matthew Ebden
Matthew Ebden (born 26 November 1987) is an Australian professional tennis player.
He is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2022 Wimbledon Championships in men's doubles alongside Max Purcell, and the 2013 Australian Open in mixe ...
and win the first edition of the
2015 Aegon Ilkley Trophy Challenger. Based on this success, he was rewarded with a wildcard into the main draw of
Wimbledon. He began the tournament by defeating 28th seed
Pablo Cuevas
Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz (; born January 1, 1986) is an inactive Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna.
He has won six singles titles and has a career-high singles ranking of ...
despite losing the first two sets. In the following rounds, he defeated
Alexander Zverev in four sets and
Santiago Giraldo
Santiago Giraldo Salazar (, born 27 November 1987) is a retired Colombian professional tennis player. He played on the ATP tour and represented Colombia in the Davis Cup competition. His best tournament result is reaching the final in the 2014 ...
in five sets. Kudla was narrowly beaten in the fourth round by US Open champion
Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
.
2016–2018: High career singles and doubles rankings
In 2016 Kudla made it to the second round of the Australian Open and lost in the first round of the year's remaining three Slams. He reached his career-high singles ranking of No. 53 on May 23, 2016. He also competed in singles at the
2016 Rio Olympics
)
, nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams)
, athletes = 11,238
, events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines)
, opening = 5 August 2016
, closing = 21 August 2016
, opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer
, cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
for the United States.
In 2017 Kudla failed to qualify for any of the Grand Slam Tournaments.
At the
2018 Australian Open
The 2018 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played at Melbourne Park between 15 and 28 January 2018, and was the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2018 season. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, double ...
, post-qualifying, Kudla beat compatriot
Steve Johnson in the first round of the tournament, and took the first two sets off of the fifth seed
Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which he first achieved in March 2020. He is the second-highest ...
in the second round. Kudla made the main draw of the
2018 French Open
The 2018 French Open was a major tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 27 May to 10 June and consisted of events for players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. J ...
when he beat
Jürgen Zopp
Jürgen Zopp (born 29 March 1988) is a retired professional Estonian tennis player. He is Estonia's all-time highest ranked male tennis player with a career-high singles ranking of World No. 71 in 2012.
Career
Zopp started playing tennis at t ...
in the final round of qualifying. However he lost to the 26th seed
Damir Džumhur
Damir Džumhur ( ; born 20 May 1992) is a professional tennis player from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is currently Bosnia and Herzegovina's No. 1 player. His career-best singles ranking of World No. 23 achieved on 2 July 2018, makes him the highes ...
in the first round.
He reached his career-high doubles ranking of No. 133 on August 27, 2018. He finished the year 2018 with a World singles high ranking of No. 63 his best year-end ranking in his career.
2019–2021: US Open and Wimbledon third rounds
Kudla made the third round of the
2019 US Open for the first time in his career defeating No. 27 seed
Dušan Lajović before losing to World No. 1
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
.
In January 2021, Kudla tested positive for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
during the
Australian Open qualifying event in Doha.
In June at the
2021 Wimbledon Championships
The 2021 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. Novak Djokovic successfully defended his gentlemen's singles title to cl ...
, he reached the third round as a qualifier, for the first time since 2015 when he reached the fourth round which was his best showing at any Grand Slam. He defeated 30th seed
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (born 5 June 1999) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 27 achieved on 18 April 2022 and a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 213 achieved on 17 May 20 ...
in a five set match and veteran
Andreas Seppi
Andreas Seppi (born 21 February 1984) is an Italian former professional tennis player.
He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 on 28 January 2013. He became the first Italian to win a title on all three surfaces.
Tennis ca ...
in the second round. He was eventually ousted by
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
but not before giving a tough fight to the world No. 1 in all three sets played.
2022: Back to top 100, Miami Masters third round, major doubles quarterfinal
He returned to the top 100 at World No. 84 on 21 March 2022 following his eight Challenger title at the
2022 Arizona Tennis Classic in Phoenix. He followed that performance by a third round showing at the
2022 Miami Open for the first time in his career at the Masters 1000 level.
Performance timelines
Singles
''Current through the
2023 Australian Open
The 2023 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 16–29 January 2023. It was the 111th edition of the Australian Open, the 55th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament consi ...
.''
Doubles
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 21 (10–11)
Doubles: 19 (11–8)
Junior Grand Slam finals
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kudla, Denis
Living people
1992 births
American male tennis players
Sportspeople from Kyiv
Tennis people from Virginia
Ukrainian emigrants to the United States
Tennis players at the 2011 Pan American Games
Pan American Games competitors for the United States
Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic tennis players of the United States
People with acquired American citizenship