Denis Kudla

Denis Kudla
	Kudla at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships
Native name	Денис Кудла
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Arlington, Virginia & Tampa, Florida, U.S
Born	August 17, 1992 (age 32); Kyiv, Ukraine
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Turned pro	2010
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US $4,611,304
Singles
Career record	72–132
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 53 (23 May 2016)
Current ranking	No. 191 (19 August 2024)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (2016, 2018, 2019, 2023)
French Open	1R (2013, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022)
Wimbledon	4R (2015)
US Open	3R (2019)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2016)
Doubles
Career record	19–40
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 133 (27 August 2018)
Current ranking	No. 177 (5 August 2024)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2019)
French Open	2R (2016)
Wimbledon	QF (2022)
US Open	3R (2023)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon	1R (2019)
US Open	2R (2019, 2023)
	Last updated on: 20 August 2024.

Denis Kudla^[a] (/ˈkuːdlə/ KOOD-lə;^[1] born August 17, 1992) is a professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 53, achieved in May 2016. His career-high doubles ranking is No. 133, achieved in August 2018.

He has won nine Challenger singles and nine doubles titles in his career.

Personal life

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) ^[2] 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." 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.

Junior tennis

By 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. 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 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.^[3]

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.

Professional career

2008–2011: ATP debut

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. 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 debut

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.

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 round

After 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.^[4]

2016–2018: High career singles and doubles rankings

In 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.^[5] 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.^[6] However he lost to the 26th seed Damir Džumhur in the first round.^[7] 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 rounds

Kudla 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.^[8]

In January 2021, Kudla tested positive for COVID-19 during the Australian Open qualifying event in Doha.^[9] 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.^[10]

2022: Back to top 100, Miami Masters third round, Major doubles quarterfinal

He 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.^[11] 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.^[12]

With partner Jack Sock he reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.

2023–2024: United Cup champion, out of top 150

He 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^[13] 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.^[14] 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.^[15] Ranked No. 179, he also qualified for the 2024 BNP Paribas Open.

Performance timelines

Key
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	P#	DNQ	A	Z#	PO	G	S	B	NMS	NTI	P	NH

(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

Current through the 2024 US Open.

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	1R	Q1	1R	1R	2R	Q3	2R	2R	Q2	Q2	1R	2R	Q2	0 / 8	4–8
French Open	A	A	Q2	1R	Q1	Q1	1R	Q3	1R	1R	Q1	Q2	1R	Q1	Q3	0 / 5	0–5
Wimbledon	A	A	Q3	2R	2R	4R	1R	Q3	1R	2R	NH	3R	1R	Q3	Q1	0 / 8	8–8
US Open	A	Q3	1R	2R	A	1R	1R	Q1	2R	3R	1R	2R	1R	Q1	Q1	0 / 9	5–9
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–2	2–3	1–2	3–3	1–4	0–0	2–4	4–4	0–1	3–2	0–4	1–1	0–0	0 / 30	17–30
National representation
Summer Olympics	NH		A	NH			1R	NH				A	NH		A	0 / 1	0–1
ATP Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters	A	Q1	2R	Q1	A	1R	2R	Q2	Q1	1R	NH	1R	Q2	Q1	1R	0 / 6	2–6
Miami Open	A	A	1R	A	Q1	Q1	2R	Q1	Q2	1R	NH	2R	3R	1R	A	0 / 6	4–6
Monte-Carlo Masters	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	NH	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1
Madrid Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	Q1	NH	A	Q1	A	A	0 / 1	1–1
Italian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q2	A	A	Q1	A	A	Q1	A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Canadian Open	A	A	A	Q2	A	1R	1R	A	A	A	NH	A	Q1	A	A	0 / 2	0–2
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	Q1	A	1R	A	A	1R	1R	Q1	A	Q1	A	A	0 / 3	0–3
Shanghai Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q1	A	NH			A	A	0 / 0	0–0
Paris Masters	A	A	A	Q1	A	A	A	A	Q2	A	A	A	A	A		0 / 0	0–0
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–4	3–4	0–0	0–1	0–3	0–0	1–2	2–1	0–1	0–1	0 / 19	7–19
Career statistics
Tournaments	1	2	6	11	5	14	20	1	14	22	1	11	16	5	3	132
Overall win–loss	1–1	2–2	2–6	5–11	3–5	8–14	8–20	1–1	11–14	11–22	0–1	9–11	6–16	4–5	1–3	72–132
Year-end ranking	496	276	137	114	121	69	131	174	63	113	114	105	106	163		35.29%

Doubles

Tournament	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	2R	A	A	A	A		0 / 2	1–2
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	1R	A	A	1R	A		0 / 3	1–3
Wimbledon	A	A	1R	Q2	A	1R	A	Q1	A	NH	A	QF	A		0 / 3	3–3
US Open	1R	A	2R	A	1R	1R	A	A	A	A	A	1R	3R		0 / 6	3–6
Win–loss	0–1	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–1	1–4	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	3–3	2–1	0–0	0 / 14	8–14

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 23 (11–12)

Legend
ATP Challenger (9–12)
ITF Futures (2–0)

Finals by surface
Hard (9–9)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (1–3)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Oct 2010	USA F26, Houston	Futures	Hard	Tyler Hochwalt	7–5, 6–1
Win	2–0	Oct 2011	USA F25, Laguna Niguel	Futures	Hard	Dennis Lajola	6–4, 6–0
Win	3–0	Jul 2012	Lexington, US	Challenger	Hard	Érik Chvojka	5–7, 7–5, 6–1
Win	4–0	Nov 2012	Charlottesville, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Alex Kuznetsov	6–0, 6–3
Loss	4–1	Mar 2013	Dallas, US	Challenger	Hard	Jürgen Melzer	4–6, 6–2, 1–6
Win	5–1	May 2013	Tallahassee, US	Challenger	Clay	Cedrik-Marcel Stebe	6–3, 6–3
Loss	5–2	Mar 2014	Guadalajara, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Gilles Müller	2–6, 2–6
Win	6–2	Jul 2014	Winnetka, US	Challenger	Hard	Farrukh Dustov	6–2, 6–2
Loss	6–3	Jun 2015	Surbiton, UK	Challenger	Grass	Matthew Ebden	7–6^(7–4), 4–6, 6–7^(5–7)
Win	7–3	Jun 2015	Ilkley, UK	Challenger	Grass	Matthew Ebden	6–3, 6–4
Loss	7–4	Oct 2015	Tiburon, US	Challenger	Hard	Tim Smyczek	6–1, 1–6, 6–7^(7–9)
Loss	7–5	Oct 2016	Monterrey, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Ernesto Escobedo	4–6, 4–6
Loss	7–6	Nov 2017	Knoxville, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Filip Peliwo	4–6, 2–6
Win	8–6	Mar 2018	Drummondville, Canada	Challenger	Hard	Benjamin Bonzi	6–0, 7–5
Loss	8–7	Apr 2018	Le Gosier, Guadeloupe	Challenger	Hard	Dušan Lajović	4–6, 0–6
Loss	8–8	Feb 2020	Dallas, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Jurij Rodionov	5–7, 6–7^(10–12)
Win	9–8	Nov 2020	Cary, US	Challenger	Hard	Prajnesh Gunneswaran	3–6, 6–3, 6–0
Loss	9–9	Apr 2021	Orlando, US	Challenger	Hard	Jenson Brooksby	3–6, 3–6
Loss	9–10	Jun 2021	Nottingham, UK	Challenger	Grass	Frances Tiafoe	1–6, 3–6
Win	10–10	Mar 2022	Phoenix, US	Challenger	Hard	Daniel Altmaier	2–6, 6–2, 6–3
Loss	10–11	May 2022	Surbiton, UK	Challenger	Grass	Jordan Thompson	5–7, 3–6
Win	11–11	Sep 2023	Columbus, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Alexis Galarneau	6–2, 6–1
Loss	11–12	Nov 2023	Knoxville, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Alex Michelsen	5–7, 6–4, 2–6

Doubles: 21 (11–10)

Legend
ATP Challenger (9–6)
ITF Futures (2–4)

Finals by surface
Hard (8–8)
Clay (3–1)
Grass (0–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Oct 2009	USA F24, Laguna Niguel	Futures	Hard	Raymond Sarmiento	Ryan Harrison Michael Venus	2–6, 4–6
Loss	0–2	Nov 2009	USA F28, Niceville	Futures	Clay	Sekou Bangoura	Tigran Martirosyan Artem Sitak	4–6, 5–7
Win	1–2	May 2010	USA F11, Orange Park	Futures	Clay	Andrea Collarini	Mitchell Frank Junior A. Ore	7–6^(8–6), 6–3
Win	2–2	May 2010	USA F12, Tampa	Futures	Clay	Junior A. Ore	Clayton Almeida Blake Strode	4–6, 6–3, [10–8]
Loss	2–3	Oct 2010	USA F27, Mansfield	Futures	Hard	Andrea Collarini	Dimitar Kutrovsky Joshua Zavala	3–6, 2–6
Loss	2–4	Nov 2010	USA F29, Niceville	Futures	Hard	Andrea Collarini	Robbye Poole Erling Tveit	6–7^(4–7), 2–6
Win	3–4	Jan 2014	Maui, US	Challenger	Hard	Yasutaka Uchiyama	Daniel Kosakowski Nicolas Meister	6–3, 6–2
Win	4–4	Jul 2014	Winnetka, US	Challenger	Hard	Thanasi Kokkinakis	Evan King Raymond Sarmiento	6–2, 7–6^(7–4)
Win	5–4	Oct 2016	Monterrey, Mexico	Challenger	Hard	Evan King	Jarryd Chaplin Ben McLachlan	6–7^(4–7), 6–4, [10–2]
Loss	5–5	Oct 2016	Las Vegas, US	Challenger	Hard	Bjorn Fratangelo	Brian Baker Matt Reid	1–6, 5–7
Loss	5–6	Jun 2017	Surbiton, UK	Challenger	Grass	Treat Huey	Marcus Daniell Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi	3–6, 6–7^(0–7)
Win	6–6	Jul 2017	Binghamton, US	Challenger	Hard	Daniel Nguyen	Jarryd Chaplin Luke Saville	6–3, 7–6^(7–5)
Win	7–6	Sep 2017	Columbus, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Dominik Köpfer	Luke Bambridge David O'Hare	7–6^(8–6), 7–6^(7–3)
Loss	7–7	Oct 2017	Stockton, US	Challenger	Hard	Miķelis Lībietis	Brydan Klein Joe Salisbury	2–6, 4–6
Win	8–7	Nov 2017	Charlottesville, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Danny Thomas	Jarryd Chaplin Miķelis Lībietis	6–7^(4–7), 1–4 ret.
Loss	8–8	Jan 2018	Newport Beach, US	Challenger	Hard	Treat Huey	James Cerretani Leander Paes	4–6, 5–7
Win	9–8	Apr 2018	Tallahassee, US	Challenger	Clay	Robert Galloway	Enrique López Pérez Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan	6–3, 6–1
Win	10–8	Mar 2020	Indian Wells, US	Challenger	Hard	Thai-Son Kwiatkowski	Sebastian Korda Mitchell Krueger	6–3, 2–6, [10–6]
Win	11–8	Mar 2022	Phoenix, US	Challenger	Hard	Treat Huey	Oscar Otte Jan-Lennard Struff	7–6^(12–10), 3–6, [10–6]
Loss	11–9	Oct 2023	Fairfield, US	Challenger	Hard	Vasil Kirkov	Evan King Reese Stalder	5–7, 3–6
Loss	11–10	Oct 2023	Charlottesville, US	Challenger	Hard (i)	Thai-Son Kwiatkowski	John-Patrick Smith Sem Verbeek	6–3, 3–6, [5–10]