Denis Kudla

Denis Kudla

File:Flickr - Carine06 - Denis Kudla.jpg
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
Born	(1992-08-17) August 17, 1992 Kiev, Ukraine
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Turned pro	2008
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,161,892
Singles
Career record	23–41 (ATP Tour and Grand Slam main draws, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 53 (May 23, 2016)
Current ranking	No. 53 (May 23, 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (2016)
French Open	1R (2013, 2016)
Wimbledon	4R (2015)
US Open	2R (2013)
Doubles
Career record	4–12 (ATP Tour and Grand Slam main draws, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 196 (July 7, 2014)
Current ranking	No. 922 (February 8, 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2016)
Wimbledon	1R (2013)
US Open	2R (2013)
Last updated on: 8 February 2016.

Denis Kudla (born August 17, 1992) is an American professional tennis player.

Personal life

Kudla moved from Ukraine to Fairfax, Virginia on his first birthday and soon became an American citizen. He first started playing tennis at age 7 because his older brother Nikita played, and 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 U.S. not speaking a word of English, but they picked it up in a year or two. 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) 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. He also enjoys watching the Premier League as he supports Chelsea F.C.. Kudla enjoys hanging out at the beach, and also hanging out with friends. 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 currently trains with Rodney "Rocket" Marshall, who is a Strength and Conditioning Specialist for Player Development at USTA. He is currently coached by Argentinian Diego Moyano who is a Player Development coach for the USTA.

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 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 Lagardere Unlimited.

Junior tennis

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. 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

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

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

After a lackluster start to the 2014 season, he was able to qualify and win his first match at Wimbledon, before falling to Kei Nishikori. The following he 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.

Career titles

Singles (7)

Legend (Singles)
Challengers (5–3)
Futures (2–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	October 11, 2010	Austin, United States	Hard	Tyler Hochwalt	7–5, 6–1
Winner	2.	September 26, 2011	Laguna Niguel, United States	Hard	Dennis Lajola	6–4, 6–0
Winner	3.	July 29, 2012	Lexington, United States	Hard	Érik Chvojka	5–7, 7–5, 6–1
Winner	4.	November 4, 2012	Charlottesville, United States	Hard	Alex Kuznetsov	6–0, 6–3
Runner-up	5.	March 11, 2013	Dallas, United States	Hard	Jürgen Melzer	6–4, 2–6, 6–1
Winner	6.	May 4, 2013	Tallahassee, United States	Clay	Cedrik-Marcel Stebe	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	7.	March 25, 2014	Guadalajara, Mexico	Hard	Gilles Müller	2–6, 2–6
Winner	8.	June 30, 2014	Winnetka, United States	Hard	Farrukh Dustov	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	9.	June 13, 2015	Surbiton, United Kingdom	Grass	Matthew Ebden	7–6(7–4), 4–6, 6–7(5–7)
Winner	10.	June 20, 2015	Ilkley, United Kingdom	Grass	Matthew Ebden	6–3, 6–4

Doubles (4)

Legend (Doubles)
Challengers (2–0)
Futures (2–4)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	September 28, 2009	Laguna Niguel	Hard	Raymond Sarmiento	Ryan Harrison Michael Venus	2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	November 9, 2009	Niceville	Clay	Sekou Bangoura	Tigran Martirosyan Artem Sitak	4–6, 5–7
Winner	3.	May 3, 2010	Orange Park	Clay	Andrea Collarini	Mitchell Frank Junior A. Ore	7–6(8–6), 6–3
Winner	4.	May 10, 2010	Tampa	Clay	Junior A. Ore	Clayton Almeida Blake Strode	4–6, 6–3, [10–8]
Runner-up	5.	October 18, 2010	Mansfield	Hard	Andrea Collarini	Dimitar Kutrovsky Joshua Zavala	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	November 1, 2010	Niceville	Hard	Andrea Collarini	Robbye Poole Erling Tveit	6–7(4–7), 2–6
Winner	7.	January 20, 2014	Maui, USA	Hard	Yasutaka Uchiyama	Daniel Kosakowski Nicolas Meister	6–3, 6–2
Winner	8.	June 30, 2014	Winnetka, USA	Hard	Thanasi Kokkinakis	Evan King Raymond Sarmiento	6–2, 7–6(7–4)

Singles performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

R#

RR

Q#

A

P

Z#

PO

G

F-S

SF-B

NMS

NH

(W) Won tournament; reached (F) final, (SF) semifinal, (QF) quarterfinal; (R#) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a (RR) round-robin stage; reached a (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent from tournament; played in a (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; won a (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; or (NH) tournament not held.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended.

Current till 2016 French Open.

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	W–L
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	1R	Q1	1R	1R	2R	1–4
French Open	A	A	Q2	1R	Q1	Q1	1R	0–2
Wimbledon	A	A	Q3	2R	2R	4R		5–3
US Open	A	Q3	1R	2R	A	1R		1–3
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–2	2–3	1–2	3–3	1–2	7–12
Career statistics
Titles–Finals	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0
Year End Ranking	496	276	137	114	121	69

External links

• Denis Kudla at the Association of Tennis Professionals