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Denis Kudla
Denis Kudla[a] (/ˈkuːdlə/ KOOD-lə;[1] born August 17, 1992) is a tennis coach and a former professional player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 53, achieved in May 2016. He had a career-high doubles ranking of No. 133, achieved in August 2018. He won nine Challenger singles and nine doubles titles in his career. He is currently coaching Reilly Opelka.[2] Personal lifeKudla's family moved from Ukraine to Fairfax, Virginia 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 used to 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 moved to the US 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 that they were able to go from Fairfax to the Junior Tennis Champions Center (JTCC) [3] in College Park, Maryland. She used to wait for him during his two-hour practices. She drove home while he slept, and then she used to wake him up for dinner and homework. His family moved to Arlington when he was 13 years old, where Kudla was set to matriculate at Washington-Lee High School. A schedule of six hours of tennis court time each day was going to leave no room for a traditional high school life. He was home-schooled at JTCC. He had to commute on his own to practice in College Park via the 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 worked out early in his career with trainer Greg Petrosian in Boca Raton, Florida, where he still trains. Junior tennisBy age ten, Kudla had enrolled at the US Tennis Association's prestigious Junior tennis training center at College Park, Maryland. 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. Both players were training together at College Park. Kudla won the match, 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 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, Tennessee 7–5, 7–6 at the Boys 12s National Hard Court Championships in 2003.[4] His best result was reaching the final of the 2010 US Open for boys. He won the first set, but he eventually lost against Jack Sock. Professional career2008–2011: ATP debutKudla 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 wildcard entry, lost their first-round match to Lucas Arnold Ker, and Eduardo Schwank. 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. 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 in three sets, and then second seed Grigor Dimitrov. 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: Grand Slam debutIn 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. In March 2012, Denis Kudla lost to Roger Federer in the second round of Indian Wells Masters tournament. 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 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 while plagued with a back injury throughout the three sets. At the 2013 US Open, he beat Jiří Veselý in four sets before losing to Tomáš Berdych. 2014–2015: Wimbledon fourth roundAfter 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 the 2015 Aegon Surbiton Trophy Challenger, before avenging his finals loss the following week to defeat Matthew Ebden 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 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.[5] 2016–2018: High career singles and doubles rankingsIn 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.[6] He also competed in singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics for the United States. In 2017, Kudla failed to qualify for any of the Grand Slam Tournaments. At the 2018 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 fifth seed Dominic Thiem in the second round. Kudla made the main draw of the 2018 French Open when he beat Jürgen Zopp in the final round of qualifying.[7] However he lost to the 26th seed Damir Džumhur in the first round.[8] He reached his career-high doubles ranking of No. 133 on August 27, 2018. He finished the year 2018 with a singles high ranking of No. 63 his best year-end ranking in his career. 2019–2021: US Open and Wimbledon third roundsKudla 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.[9] In January 2021, Kudla tested positive for COVID-19 during the Australian Open qualifying event in Doha.[10] In June at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, 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 in a five set match and veteran Andreas Seppi in the second round. He was eventually ousted by Novak Djokovic but not before giving a tough fight to the world No. 1 in all three sets played.[11] 2022: Back to top 100, Miami Masters third round, Major doubles quarterfinalHe 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. At the same tournament he also won in doubles partnering Treat Huey.[12] He followed that performance by a third round showing as a qualifier at the 2022 Miami Open for the first time in his career at the Masters level defeating Shang Juncheng and 19th seed Lorenzo Sonego before losing to fellow qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis.[13] With partner Jack Sock he reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships where they lost to sixth seeded Colombians Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah.[14] 2023–2025: Two-time United Cup champion, retirementHe was selected as the No. 3 ATP player as part of the 2023 United Cup United States winning team. He entered the 2023 Australian Open as a lucky loser[15] where he defeated Russian Roman Safiullin to reach the second round for the fourth time at this Major. At the 2023 Delray Beach Open he won his opening match against Jordan Thompson.[16] In October 2023, he was selected again this time as the No. 2 ATP player at the 2024 United Cup as part of the US team. He qualified for the 2024 Dallas Open as a lucky loser and won his first round match against Radu Albot before losing this time to Jordan Thompson.[17] Ranked No. 179, he also qualified for the 2024 BNP Paribas Open. In October 2024, he was selected for the second consecutive time as the No. 2 ATP player at the 2025 United Cup as part of the team that reached again the final.[18][19] Kudla and Desirae Krawczyk beat Czechs Patrik Rikl and Gabriela Knutson in straight sets in the semifinal stage.[20] Ultimately, the United States won the United Cup title for a second time defeating Poland.[21] Right before lifting the trophy with the USA team, Kudla announced his retirement on 4 January 2025.[22] Performance timelines
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
Singles
Doubles
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finalsSingles: 23 (11–12)
Doubles: 21 (11–10)
Junior Grand Slam finalsSingles: 1 (1 runner-up)
NotesReferences
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