In 1993, shortly after the birth of their youngest son, Vladimir and Lucy Kudla left Kyiv, Ukraine, and began a new life in Fairfax, Virginia. Their son, Denis, became one of the most promising young tennis players in America.
From taking solo Metro rides at 12 years old to reaching a top-five junior world ranking, Kudla appeared set on a path to tennis stardom. But in a sport that places immense pressure on rising talents, his career ultimately left him with lingering regrets.
“I definitely have plenty of things that I wish would’ve gone differently,” Kudla, 32, said. “I don’t really believe in having no regrets in a career, I just feel like you can learn from a lot of those into the next chapter.”
Kudla no longer has strong ties to Ukraine — he was born there but moved to Virginia when he was an infant — and considers himself fully American. He views the war between Russia and Ukraine through the eyes of an outsider.
Tennis wasn’t popular in Ukraine, and Kudla’s parents spoke no English when they moved their family to the United States. But Nikita, Kudla’s older brother, played, and Denis started at 7 years old.
“[I started] truly probably just as an accident,” Kudla said. “At the park, there were some guys that just loved it that were regulars and they happened to see that I had some talent, and everything just fell in place.”
He didn’t play the sport solely as a hobby, though. Kudla’s mother picked him up early from school in Virginia and drove him to practices at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park. At 12, he started lugging a school backpack and tennis bag onto his hour-long metro ride during rush hour.
“Being barely able to hold the top rail … it was definitely a grind at times,” Kudla said.
Those practices paid off. He turned professional at a young age despite significant interest from colleges as the No. 2-ranked senior in the country. Kudla was viewed as part of the next great wave of American tennis players.
But while he played more than 15 years on the tour, Kudla’s career never reached the heights so many experts envisioned. He never crossed into the top 50 of the world rankings, never won an ATP title and finished with a 72-132 singles record.
Kudla retired at the beginning of this year and quickly turned to coaching. He’s now coaching fellow American, No. 74-ranked Reilly Opelka. The two have already enjoyed success as a partnership; Opelka defeated 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the Brisbane quarterfinals.
“Everything’s right at the front of his mind; he knows a lot about the guys that I’ll be competing against,” Opelka said. “He still hits the ball great, so it’s really great having a sparring partner.”
Opelka defeated Murphy Cassone on Monday to move into the second round of the Mubadala Citi DC Open. He’ll face No. 8 seed Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday. Kudla and Opelka don’t talk much during the match — Opelka prefers it that way — and Kudla’s had to adjust to the natural stubbornness that he once had as an athlete. He’s just viewing it from a coaching perspective now.
Have a news tip? Contact Sam Jane at sjane@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/Sam_Jane230.
