Tennys Sandgren captivated the tennis world not too long ago.

The aptly named Tennessean made a surprise run to the quarterfinals at the 2018 Australian Open, cracked the top 50 later in the year, won his first title in early 2019 and made another deep run in Melbourne in 2020.

It has been mostly downhill for him since then, however.

Sandgren has spent the last year on the Challenger Tour and the results have been a mixed bag.

Sandgren won a title back in October, but since then he has been barely above .500 in 2023 and is coming off a loss to World No. 460 Blake Ellis. 

The good news for Sandgren is that his opponent in Round 1 of US Open Qualifying Round is also in poor form.

It has been a rough couple of years for Denis Kudla.

The former World No. 41 has lost four of his last five contests, and two of those defeats came against players ranked 477th and 717th.

Despite those struggles, Kudla is a -165 favorite against Sandgren in their qualifying match on Wednesday.

Sandgren may also be fighting it these days, but this match grades out closer to a coin flip than these odds imply.

THE PLAY: Tennys Sandgren +135 (Caesars)