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Denis Kudla Qualifies for Australian Open Main Draw

Denis Kudla is through to his first career Grand Slam singles draw. Kudla, 19, from Arlington and trained in College Park at the Junior Tennis Champion’s Center, took out an Australian favorite in Carsten Ball in winning a qualifying final 7-6 (1), 7-5. Though the match was not televised,  you can bet Kudla’s maturity helped him get through despite a raucous chorus of support for…

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Kudla is in!

Denis Kudla is through to his first career Grand Slam singles draw. Kudla, 19, from Arlington and trained in College Park at the Junior Tennis Champion’s Center, took out an Australian favorite in Carsten Ball in winning a qualifying final 7-6 (1), 7-5. Though the match was not televised,  you can bet Kudla’s maturity helped him get through despite a raucous chorus of support for the other guy. When we caught up with him last month in Atlanta, he admitted “being mentally weak” in the past due to crowd distraction. At the 2010 AO Wild Card Playoffs, he had “problems with a couple of people in the crowd, hearing their voices over everyone else, and it really pissed me off.” At the 2011 AO Wild Card Playoffs? “I heard the same people, but it really didn’t bother me.”

Kudla will take on Tommy Haas in first round play at Melbourne Park on Monday. At nearly 34, Haas is one of the most experienced players in the tournament. The winner could face Rafael Nadal in the second round.

As always, Tennis Maryland is committed to being your Denis Kudla News Center.

One response to “Denis Kudla Qualifies for Australian Open Main Draw”

  1. Noel Avatar
    Noel

    Oh I think there is plenty wrong with American nentis training. American trained players have no idea how to construct a point. It’s why we have such miserable records on clay, where the mental aspect is on par with the physical and technical parts of the game. With all the training being focused on hard courts the approach is to attack and attack and score quickly. This may change going forward but is the major problem with Blake and Roddick. You also have to throw Sharapova and Vaidisova into the mix here as well since they are from the hit hard and harder school of nentis.I’ve seen Blake play live and have to say he has one of the ugliest games I’ve ever seen. He hits very hard and when he’s on he can beat anyone but if he can’t outhit you he has no plan B. Same with Roddick.Of all the Americans I think Donald Young has the most potential. He is not a big guy and could become an all court threat with the consistency of a Davydenko who is roughly the same size. Whether this will happen I don’t know.As for American women, who is there to talk about after the WS? The up and comers are from France and until proven otherwise, England with Laura Robson. We may, just may, have a dominant woman in the form of one Dinara Safina.

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