DC’s Dangerous Denis Kudla
DC’s Denis Kudla, who held his unofficial debutant ball at the 2011 Campbell’s Tennis Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, Rhode Island, has indicated that he intends to return to competition for the Van Alen Cup.
Last year, Kudla was granted a main draw wild card and proceeded to make his benefactors look very, very good. He stunned Ivo Karlovic in the first round and blew away #2 seed Grigor Dimitrov in the second round en route to his only quarterfinal appearance at an ATP tournament to date.
Kudla was interviewed by Kelyn Soong three weeks ago at Maryland’s Tennis Center at College Park, home of the Junior Tennis Champions Center. Kudla brought up the subject of New England’s ATP event.
“A pretty special place to me is Newport, Rhode Island, which I’m actually going to three weeks from now. It’s just a place that’s pretty special to me. I won my first ATP Tour title match and had some of my biggest wins there. It’s a town and atmosphere I really, really like.”
At the time of the interview, several wild cards were still outstanding for the event. Since that time, the last main draw invites have come and gone, meaning Kudla would have to qualify for the event this weekend. While nothing is official at this time, the man’s strong words on his love for Newport make it almost certain that he will hit on American grass this weekend and last year’s performance means that he’s likely to be winning on American grass late into next week.
Tennis Atlantic 