Denis Kudla is an American professional tennis player.
38 Facts About Denis Kudla
2.
Denis Kudla began playing tennis at age 7, in part because his older brother Nikita played tennis, but because many of his father's friends played.
3.
Denis Kudla's parents came to the USA not speaking a word of English, but learned it within a few years.
4.
Denis Kudla's 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 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.
5.
At age 13, they moved to Arlington, where Denis Kudla was set to matriculate at Washington-Lee High School.
6.
Denis 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.
7.
Early in his career, Denis Kudla worked out with trainer Greg Petrosian in Boca Raton, Florida, where he still trains.
8.
Denis Kudla was previously coached by Billy Heiser and Diego Moyano.
9.
Denis Kudla started playing tennis with a Head racquet, and then switched to Wilson when he was 11.
10.
Denis Kudla was sponsored by Wilson early in his career and later signed a contract with Tecnifibre in 2010.
11.
Denis Kudla estimates that he spends around $12,000 a year on stringing each year.
12.
Denis Kudla has a sponsorship deal with Lacoste, and is represented by tennis agent Sam Duvall at Topnotch Management.
13.
Currently Denis Kudla uses a Yonex VCORE 98 6th Gen Tennis Racquet.
14.
Denis Kudla reached the semifinals of his second professional tour event, USA F15 ITF Futures event, held in New York in June 2008.
15.
Denis Kudla 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.
16.
Denis Kudla reached the quarterfinals in singles at the 2011 Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, having knocked off big-serving Ivo Karlovic in three sets, and then second seed Grigor Dimitrov.
17.
Denis Kudla lost to qualifier Michael Yani in three sets in the quarterfinals.
18.
Denis Kudla played his first Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC in 2011, losing in the first round to Tobias Kamke.
19.
In March 2012, Denis Kudla lost to Roger Federer in the second round of Indian Wells Masters tournament.
20.
Denis Kudla had a bout with mononucleosis that caused him to miss most of the fall schedule.
21.
Denis Kudla 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 first edition of the 2015 Aegon Ilkley Trophy Challenger.
22.
Denis Kudla began the tournament by defeating 28th seed Pablo Cuevas despite losing the first two sets.
23.
Denis Kudla was narrowly beaten in the fourth round by US Open champion Marin Cilic.
24.
In 2016 Denis Kudla made it to the second round of the Australian Open and lost in the first round of the year's remaining three Slams.
25.
Denis Kudla reached his career-high singles ranking of No 53 on May 23,2016.
26.
Denis Kudla competed in singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics for the United States.
27.
In 2017 Denis Kudla failed to qualify for any of the Grand Slam Tournaments.
28.
At the 2018 Australian Open, post-qualifying, Denis 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.
29.
Denis Kudla made the main draw of the 2018 French Open when he beat Jurgen Zopp in the final round of qualifying.
30.
Denis Kudla reached his career-high doubles ranking of No 133 on August 27,2018.
31.
Denis Kudla finished the year 2018 with a singles high ranking of No 63 his best year-end ranking in his career.
32.
Denis Kudla made the third round of the 2019 US Open for the first time in his career defeating No 27 seed Dusan Lajovic before losing to World No 1 Novak Djokovic.
33.
In January 2021, Denis Kudla tested positive for COVID-19 during the Australian Open qualifying event in Doha.
34.
Denis Kudla defeated 30th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a five set match and veteran Andreas Seppi in the second round.
35.
Denis Kudla was eventually ousted by Novak Djokovic but not before giving a tough fight to the world No 1 in all three sets played.
36.
Denis Kudla 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.
37.
Denis Kudla 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.
38.
Denis Kudla entered the 2023 Australian Open as a lucky loser where he defeated Russian Roman Safiullin to reach the second round for the fourth time at this Major.