From tennis to tattoos, literature to world leaders, name a topic, and Denis Kudla likely has an opinion. Born in Kiev, Ukraine and raised in the Washington D.C. area, Kudla is well-traveled, well-read, and well-versed in sports, the arts, politics and just about everything in between. ATPWorldTour.com recently caught up with the 25-year-old to find out more. What's your biggest passion outside of sports, and why? My biggest passion outside of sports would be music. I played piano when I was younger but I have a passion for all genres of music. I think it's amazing to listen to the art that comes from a musician’s mind. It's something that's always intrigued me. Do you have a favourite genre of...
Fernando Verdasco entered his match on Monday evening at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. Clay Court Championship with a fine pedigree — both overall and on clay. The left-hander was just two tour-level wins away from No. 500 in his career, and he arrived in Houston with 213 victories on clay. His opponent, American Denis Kudla, had played just nine tour-level clay-court matches, winning only two. But that proved inconsequential as day turned to night on Centre Court, as the World No. 122 defeated 2014 Houston champion Verdasco, the World No. 36, 6-4, 7-6(4) to claim his best victory of the season by ATP Ranking. "I thought it was a great performance by me on the clay. I honestly did...
A LOOK BACK Challenger Banque Nationale de Drummondville (Drummondville, Canada): Denis Kudla is back in the winners' circle after nearly three years, claiming the trophy at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Drummondville on Sunday. Kudla marched to the title with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over France's Benjamin Bonzi, prevailing after just 64 minutes. The American converted five of six break opportunities to take his sixth Challenger crown and first since 2015. It has been a strong start to 2018 for Kudla, who kicked off his campaign with a second round run as a qualifier at the Australian Open. He would also reach the semi-finals at the $125,000 event in Dallas. With his title in Drummondville, he vaults 24 spots...
Watch the five best Hot Shots from the ATP Challenger Tour in the month of January, featuring Filip Peliwo, Kei Nishikori, Denis Kudla, Mikael Ymer and Leander Paes.
There are signs that Denis Kudla is getting back to his best. After reaching a career-high No. 53 in the ATP Rankings on 23 May 2016, Kudla saw his ranking slowly drop until falling outside of the Top 200 towards the end of 2017. But, after a strong final run in Knoxville (l. Peliwo) on the ATP Challenger Tour, Kudla ended his season with great cause for optimism. In 2018, Kudla has already built on that strong showing in Tennessee, qualifying for his first Grand Slam main draw since the 2016 US Open, winning four matches and forcing No. 5 seed Dominic Thiem to five-sets in a second-round loss at the Australian Open. This week, he is into the quarter-finals...
