Denis Kudla

Denis Kudla (born August 17, 1992) is a Ukrainian-American professional tennis player.

A product of the Junior Tennis Champions Center, he has won nine Challenger singles and nine doubles titles in his career.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Early in his career, Kudla worked out with trainer Greg Petrosian in Boca Raton, Florida, where he still trains.

By age ten, Kudla had enrolled at the US Tennis Association's prestigious regional training center at College Park, Maryland.

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.

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.

Kudla'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 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 (JTCC) in College Park, Maryland, where she would wait through his two-hour practices, drive him home while he slept, then wake him for dinner and homework.

At age 13, his family 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."