As pundits and American tennis fans previewed Wimbledon, many discussed the chances of the various American men to make deep runs into the second week. After a respectable clay court season for the Americans expectations were high for this grass season; grass having already proven to be a preferred surface for the amped up forehands and serves of typical American players. This year seemed no different, with John Isner, Jack Sock, Sam Querrey, and Steve Johnson all looking for break through Grand Slam moments. Left out of many of those conversations was the name Denis Kudla. The DC Metro native, once heralded as a potential American star, had seen his stock fall in recent years as he battled various ailments and struggled to find chemistry with his support team from the USTA. With the USTA team and Kudla agreeing that maybe it was time for a change, Kudla started a partnership with Billy Heiser and the results have been immediate. Heiser previously (and still works with) turned Tim Smyczek, another American, into a mid-tier ATP level player.
Kudla entered Wimbledon off two terrific grass court challenger results which allowed him to garner a precious wildcard into the prestigious event. After a runner-up finish at Aegon Surbiton, Kudla won Aegon Ilkey besting grass loving Aussie Matt Ebden. With confidence growing in his aggressive baseline game, Kudla has shown a new fierceness on the court, a determination to never stop fighting and find a way to get himself back into matches that seemed to be getting away from him. In his opening round match he was down 2 sets to love against the craft Pablo Cuevas before reeling off 3 straight sets for the victory. In his third round match with Santiago Giraldo, he found himself down 2 sets to 1 before coming back in that one as well. This new found ability to translate the inner will to win, into actual victories is often the a turning point for players who transition from a top 100 player into a top 30 player. Previously Kudla came agonizingly close to upsetting top 20 player Feliciano Lopez at the Australian Open this year.
Kudla’s growing confidence has been bolstered by the changes Coach Heiser has implemented with him. As Heiser told USA Today, Kudla was not lacking a good attitude or commitment to the game, but he felt that Kudla was unaware of what the top guys were doing to get their bodies in peak performance level. Kudla now works with a trainer, and the results are showing. At only 5’11, Kudla’s fitness is crucial to his game, base around a big forehand and counterpunching abilities. Although he does have power and the ability to hit winners, it is not that “easy power” that John McEnroe, Tracy Austin, and other tennis commentators talk about that comes from the taller, bigger men on tour. Kudla himself admits that going it alone and paying for his own coaching and training out of pocket made him do a “gut check” and become more aware of his commitment level to the sport. As he has mentioned here at Wimbledon and prior he “has something to lose now” and that change has worked in improved performance on the court.
Prior to the grass court season, and coaching change, the results had not been great. After a round of 16 run at Memphis, he had only won a couple matches on the main tour (wins over Lukas Lacko in Delray Beach and Thanasi Kokkinakis in Memphis). He had suffered first round losses at Brisbane, Australian Open, Indian Wells, and Monte Carlo, and didn’t qualify for the French Open. All of these results had been prior to the coaching change and renewed work ethic and mind set. As Kudla enters tomorrow’s match with Marin Cilic it will be interesting to see if these changes pay even bigger and better dividends with a run even deeper into the second week, and how these changes will help Kudla as the tour enters the American hard court season. With few points to defend from 2014, if Kudla can continue this upward projection, his ranking will sky rocket to personal all time highs easily.
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