Denis Kudla
His 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 (JTCC) [3] in College Park, Maryland.A schedule of six hours of tennis court time each day was going to leave no room for a traditional high school life.He 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.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.Kudla worked out early in his career with trainer Greg Petrosian in Boca Raton, Florida, where he still trains.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.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.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.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.Kudla made the main draw of the 2018 French Open when he beat Jürgen Zopp in the final round of qualifying.He defeated 30th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in a five set match and veteran Andreas Seppi in the second round.[13] With partner Jack Sock he reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships where they lost to sixth seeded Colombians Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah.He entered the 2023 Australian Open as a lucky loser[15] where he defeated Russian Roman Safiullin to reach the second round for the fourth time at this Major.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.[18][19] Kudla and Desirae Krawczyk beat Czechs Patrik Rikl and Gabriela Knutson in straight sets in the semifinal stage.