Jiří Veselý (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjɪr̝iː ˈvɛsɛliː]; born 10 July 1993) is a Czech professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 35 on 27 April 2015. He is currently the No. 1 Czech tennis player in singles. In 2011, Veselý won the boys’ singles title at the Australian Open, defeating Australian Luke Saville in straight sets. He also won the boys’ doubles titles at the Australian Open, partnering Filip Horanský of Slovakia; they defeated Ben Wagland and Andrew Whittington of Australia in the final. The same year he reached the finals of the US Open singles and the Wimbledon doubles (as well the final of the US Open doubles in 2010).
Denis Kudla (/ˈkuːdlə/ KOOD-lə; born August 17, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won seven Challenger singles titles and eight Challenger doubles titles in his career. His career-high ATP singles ranking is World No. 53, achieved in May 2016. His career-high ATP doubles ranking is World No. 133, achieved in August 2018. Kudla’s family moved from Ukraine to Fairfax, Virginia on his first birthday. He began playing tennis at age 7, in part because his older brother Nikita played tennis, but also because many of his father’s friends played. He would tag along as Nikita took informal lessons from their father in Fairfax’s Van Dyck Park. Kudla’s father, Vladimir Kudla, a successful architect, took his family out of Ukraine shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed. Kudla’s parents came to the USA not speaking a word of English, but learned it within a few years.