Denis Kudla

Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Arlington, Virginia & Tampa, Florida, U.S
Born	(1992-08-17) August 17, 1992 (age 26) Kiev, Ukraine
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Turned pro	2010
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Dustin Taylor
Prize money	$2,257,075
Singles
Career record	41–74 (ATP Tour and Grand Slam main draws, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 53 (May 23, 2016)
Current ranking	No. 62 (22 October 2018)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2016, 2018)
French Open	1R (2013, 2016, 2018)
Wimbledon	4R (2015)
US Open	2R (2013, 2018)
Doubles
Career record	9–21
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 146 (7 May 2018)
Current ranking	No. 173 (22 October 2018)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2016)
French Open	2R (2016)
Wimbledon	1R (2013, 2016)
US Open	2R (2013)
Last updated on: 22 October 2018.

Denis Kudla (/ˈkuːdlə/ KOOD-lə;^[1] born August 17, 1992) is an American professional tennis player of Ukrainian descent.

Personal life[edit]

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Kudla moved from Ukraine to Fairfax, Virginia on his first birthday and soon became an American citizen. 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, a successful architect, 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 (JTCC) ^[2] in College Park, Maryland, 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. 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 for the 2013 Easter Egg Roll as he got to meet President Barack Obama, and NFL Pro Bowlers Anquan Boldin and Adrian Peterson.

Kudla is an avid fan of sports, as he supports the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Capitals, Washington Wizards, Washington Nationals and occasionally the San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco Giants, and Boston Celtics. Kudla models his game after Spaniard David Ferrer, and his idol is Roger Federer.

Early in his career, Kudla worked out with trainer Greg Petrosian down in Boca Raton where he still trains. He was previously coached by Billy Heiser and earlier Diego Moyano.

Playing equipment and sponsorships[edit]

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 in 2010. Kudla used Luxilon strings, but switched to Tecnifibre 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, and is represented by tennis agent Sam Duvall at Topnotch Management.

Junior tennis[edit]

By age ten, Kudla had enrolled at the US Tennis Association's prestigious regional training center at College Park, Maryland. 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 current 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 Ore at Madison Square Garden, as they were the under-card for Roger Federer 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 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, TN 7–5, 7–6 at the Boys 12s National Hard Court Championships in 2003.^[3] 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.

Tour career[edit]

Kudla reached the semifinals of his second professional tour event, U.S.A. F15 ITF Futures 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 wild-card entry, lost their first-round match to Lucas Arnold Ker, and Eduardo Schwank. Two years later, he was given a wild card 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.

Kudla has won three Challenger singles titles and two doubles Futures titles thus far in his career. His career-high singles ranking is world no. 112, which he reached in June 2013. His high doubles ranking is world no. 291. His only tour-level doubles match win came in reaching the second round in doubles at the 2011 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships 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 in three sets, and then second seed Grigor Dimitrov handily. Kudla lost to qualifier Michael Yani in three sets in the quarterfinals.

Kudla played his first Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. in 2011, losing in the first round to Tobias Kamke.

2012–2013[edit]

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. He qualified for the 2012 SAP Open in San Jose, California and beat Jack Sock in the first round 6–4, 6–7, 6–3.

In March 2012, Denis Kudla lost to Roger Federer in the second round of Indian Wells Masters tournament 6–4, 6–1.

In 2013 at the Australian Open he lost in the first round of qualifying to Julian Reister. Then at the French Open he qualified for the main draw before losing to Jan Hajek. 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 while plagued with a back injury throughout the three sets. At the 2013 US Open, he beat Jiri Vesely in four set before losing to Thomas Berdych.

2014–2015[edit]

After a lackluster start to the 2014 season, he was able to qualify and win his first match at Wimbledon against Marsel İlhan, before falling to Kei Nishikori. 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 and win the Ikley 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 despite losing the first two sets. In the following rounds, he defeated Alexander Zverev in four sets and Santiago Giraldo in five sets. Kudla was narrowly beaten in the fourth round by US Open champion Marin Čilić.

2016–present[edit]

2016 saw Kudla make it to the 2nd round of the Australian Open and lose in the first round of the year's remaining three Slams. He also competed in singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics for the United States.

Kudla failed to qualify for any of the Grand Slam Tournaments in 2017.

At the Australian Open, post-qualifying, Kudla beat compatriot Steve Johnson in the first round of the tournament, and took the first two sets off of the 5th-seed Dominic Thiem in the second round. As of 20 March 2018, Kudla's world ranking in singles is 144.^[4] Kudla made the main draw of the 2018 French Open when he beat Jürgen Zopp in the final round of qualifying.^[5] However he lost to the 26th seed Damir Dzumhur in the first round.^[6] Zopp, by comparison, made the draw as a lucky loser and beat Kudla’s compatriot Jack Sock before reaching the third round.

Challenger and Futures finals[edit]

Singles: 15 (8–7)[edit]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Oct 2010	USA F26, Houston	Futures	Hard	Tyler Hochwalt	7–5, 6–1
Win	2–0	Oct 2011	USA F25, Laguna Niguel	Futures	Hard	Dennis Lajola	6–4, 6–0
Win	3–0	Jul 2012	Lexington, US	Challenger	Hard	Érik Chvojka	5–7, 7–5, 6–1
Win	4–0	Nov 2012	Charlottesville, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Alex Kuznetsov	6–0, 6–3
Loss	4–1	Mar 2013	Dallas, US	Challenger	Hard	Jürgen Melzer	4–6, 6–2, 1–6
Win	5–1	May 2013	Tallahassee, US	Challenger	Clay	Cedrik-Marcel Stebe	6–3, 6–3
Loss	5–2	Mar 2014	Guadalajara, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Gilles Müller	2–6, 2–6
Win	6–2	Jul 2014	Winnetka, US	Challenger	Hard	Farrukh Dustov	6–2, 6–2
Loss	6–3	Jun 2015	Surbiton, UK	Challenger	Grass	Matthew Ebden	7–6(7–4), 4–6, 6–7(5–7)
Win	7–3	Jun 2015	Ilkley, UK	Challenger	Grass	Matthew Ebden	6–3, 6–4
Loss	7–4	Oct 2015	Tiburon, US	Challenger	Hard	Tim Smyczek	6–1, 1–6, 6–7(7–9)
Loss	7–5	Oct 2016	Monterrey, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Ernesto Escobedo	4–6, 4–6
Loss	7–6	Nov 2017	Knoxville, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Filip Peliwo	4–6, 2–6
Win	8–6	Mar 2018	Drummondville, Canada	Challenger	Hard	Benjamin Bonzi	6–0, 7–5
Loss	8–7	Apr 2018	Le Gosier, Guadeloupe	Challenger	Hard	Dušan Lajović	4–6, 0–6

Doubles: 17 (9–8)[edit]

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Oct 2009	USA F24, Laguna Niguel	Futures	Hard	Raymond Sarmiento	Ryan Harrison Michael Venus	2–6, 4–6
Loss	0–2	Nov 2009	USA F28, Niceville	Futures	Clay	Sekou Bangoura	Tigran Martirosyan Artem Sitak	4–6, 5–7
Win	1–2	May 2010	USA F11, Orange Park	Futures	Clay	Andrea Collarini	Mitchell Frank Junior A. Ore	7–6(8–6), 6–3
Win	2–2	May 2010	USA F12, Tampa	Futures	Clay	Junior A. Ore	Clayton Almeida Blake Strode	4–6, 6–3, [10–8]
Loss	2–3	Oct 2010	USA F27, Mansfield	Futures	Hard	Andrea Collarini	Dimitar Kutrovsky Joshua Zavala	3–6, 2–6
Loss	2–4	Nov 2010	USA F29, Niceville	Futures	Hard	Andrea Collarini	Robbye Poole Erling Tveit	6–7(4–7), 2–6
Win	3–4	Jan 2014	Maui, US	Challenger	Hard	Yasutaka Uchiyama	Daniel Kosakowski Nicolas Meister	6–3, 6–2
Win	4–4	Jul 2014	Winnetka, US	Challenger	Hard	Thanasi Kokkinakis	Evan King Raymond Sarmiento	6–2, 7–6(7–4)
Win	5–4	Oct 2016	Monterrey, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Evan King	Jarryd Chaplin Ben McLachlan	6–7(4–7), 6–4, [10–2]
Loss	5–5	Oct 2016	Las Vegas, US	Challenger	Hard	Bjorn Fratangelo	Brian Baker Matt Reid	1–6, 5–7
Loss	5–6	Jun 2017	Surbiton, UK	Challenger	Grass	Treat Huey	Marcus Daniell Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi	3–6, 6–7(0–7)
Win	6–6	Jul 2017	Binghamton, US	Challenger	Hard	Daniel Nguyen	Jarryd Chaplin Luke Saville	6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Win	7–6	Sep 2017	Columbus, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Dominik Köpfer	Luke Bambridge David O'Hare	7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–3)
Loss	7–7	Oct 2017	Stockton, US	Challenger	Hard	Miķelis Lībietis	Brydan Klein Joe Salisbury	2–6, 4–6
Win	8–7	Nov 2017	Charlottesville, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Danny Thomas	Jarryd Chaplin Miķelis Lībietis	6–7(4–7), 1–4 ret.
Loss	8–8	Jan 2018	Newport Beach, US	Challenger	Hard	Treat Huey	James Cerretani Leander Paes	4–6, 5–7
Win	9–8	Apr 2018	Tallahassee, US	Challenger	Clay	Robert Galloway	Enrique López Pérez Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan	6–3, 6–1

Singles performance timeline[edit]

This table is current through the 2018 Erste Bank Open.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• 
  Denis Kudla at the Association of Tennis Professionals
  


• 
  Denis Kudla at the International Tennis Federation