1. Denis Kudla is an American tennis coach and former professional player.
43 Facts About Denis Kudla
1. 2.
Denis Kudla had a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No 53, achieved in May 2016.
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Denis Kudla had a career-high doubles ranking of No 133, achieved in August 2018.
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Denis Kudla won nine Challenger singles and nine doubles titles in his career.
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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.
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Denis Kudla used to tag along as Nikita took informal lessons from their father in Fairfax's Van Dyck Park.
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Denis Kudla's parents moved to the US not speaking a word of English, but learned it within a few years.
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Denis Kudla's 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 in College Park, Maryland.
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Denis Kudla used to wait for him during his two-hour practices.
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Denis Kudla drove home while he slept, and then she used to wake him up for dinner and homework.
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Denis Kudla's family moved to Arlington when he was 13 years old, where Kudla was set to matriculate at Washington-Lee High School.
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Denis Kudla 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.
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Denis Kudla worked out early in his career with trainer Greg Petrosian in Boca Raton, Florida, where he still trains.
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Denis Kudla won the match, which was his first in major international competition.
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Denis Kudla became the first American to win the Boys' 16s title since Donald Young in 2003.
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Denis Kudla won the first set, but he eventually lost against Jack Sock.
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Denis Kudla reached the semifinals of his second professional tour event, USA F15 ITF Futures event, held in New York in June 2008.
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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.
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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.
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Denis Kudla lost to qualifier Michael Yani in three sets in the quarterfinals.
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Denis Kudla played his first Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC in 2011, losing in the first round to Tobias Kamke.
22.
In March 2012, Denis Kudla lost to Roger Federer in the second round of Indian Wells Masters tournament.
23.
Denis Kudla had a bout with mononucleosis that caused him to miss most of the fall schedule.
24.
Denis Kudla 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.
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Denis Kudla began the tournament by defeating 28th seed Pablo Cuevas despite losing the first two sets.
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Denis Kudla was narrowly beaten in the fourth round by US Open champion Marin Cilic.
27.
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.
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Denis Kudla reached his career-high singles ranking of No 53 on May 23,2016.
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Denis Kudla competed in singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics for the United States.
30.
In 2017, Denis Kudla failed to qualify for any of the Grand Slam Tournaments.
31.
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.
32.
Denis Kudla made the main draw of the 2018 French Open when he beat Jurgen Zopp in the final round of qualifying.
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Denis Kudla reached his career-high doubles ranking of No 133 on August 27,2018.
34.
Denis Kudla finished the year 2018 with a singles high ranking of No 63 his best year-end ranking in his career.
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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.
36.
In January 2021, Denis Kudla tested positive for COVID-19 during the Australian Open qualifying event in Doha.
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Denis Kudla defeated 30th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a five set match and veteran Andreas Seppi in the second round.
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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.
39.
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.
40.
Denis Kudla 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.
41.
Denis Kudla was selected as the No 3 ATP player as part of the 2023 United Cup United States winning team.
42.
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.
43.
Right before lifting the trophy with the USA team, Denis Kudla announced his retirement on 4 January 2025.