During his final year as a junior tennis player, just as doors to Grand Slam tournaments were opening, Class of 2024 alumnus Chris Rodesch was blindsided by Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune condition affecting the nerves.
“I was so weak I couldn’t walk straight anymore or even open bottles with my hands,” Rodesch wrote on Instagram recently.
The illness wiped out two critical years of tennis — years that many say make or break a career. For Rodesch, it meant missing his window at competing in junior Slams. His dream of turning pro seemed to have fallen apart.
Yet May 26, nearly a decade later, he capped a lengthy Instagram caption with the words “anything is possible.” At the time of the post, Rodesch had just competed at French Open qualifying, his first appearance in Grand Slam qualifying, a dream come true. He fell in the first round then.
Now, though, he is a Grand Slam participant. After winning the Wimbledon qualifying tournament, he became just the tenth player in Virginia history to compete in the Wimbledon men’s singles main draw, and the feat was made all the more impressive given that the Wimbledon swing marked Rodesch’s first time ever playing on grass.
It started after the stifling disappointment of all those missed junior tournaments, when Rodesch, from Luxembourg, pivoted to college tennis, enrolling at Virginia. Coach Andres Pedroso and his staff took a chance, and Rodesch’s results were staggering.
Over four seasons at Virginia, he compiled a 94-27 record in singles and a 59-26 record in doubles. He played a crucial role in leading the Cavaliers to two NCAA titles in 2022 and 2023. Rodesch also helped secure three ACC titles and was named an ITA Singles All-American three times. His relentless consistency included ACC Player of the Week honors in 2023 — four times — and a run to the NCAA singles semifinals in May 2023.
Rodesch also quietly began building a strong resume on the ITF World Tennis Tour during and after his college years. He captured his first professional singles title at the M15 Vejle in 2022, followed by a string of tournament wins, including three titles at the M25 level in 2023 and 2024.
After graduating, he turned pro in 2024 and returned to his home country to win the M25 Esch/Alzette in July 2024, sparking a 23-match winning streak that included multiple titles. These early results gave Rodesch the confidence to test himself at the next level — the ATP Challenger Tour, where he broke through in April 2025 at the Tallahassee Challenger.
The victory not only marked his arrival on the professional stage but also propelled him 62 spots up the ATP rankings, pushing him to just outside the top 170. By Wimbledon 2025, he had climbed from No. 299 in the ATP rankings at the start of the year to a career-high No. 163.
"I think that gave me a lot of confidence to belong at the Challenger level,” Rodesch told ITF Media after the triumph. “I think I needed that after college. To prove to myself [that] I belong on the Challenger Tour.”
Often described as the crown jewel of professional tennis, Wimbledon is the oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam. For any player — especially one just breaking onto the professional scene — qualifying for Wimbledon represents not just a career milestone but entry onto the sport’s most storied arena.
Rodesch delivered one of the most impressive runs of his young career in qualifying. He won his first two matches in straight sets, setting up a final against 2021 Wimbledon quarterfinalist and tournament top seed Marton Fucsovics, from Hungary — which he won in an epic match, a 6-3, 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (4) victory. This earned him a place in the Wimbledon main draw.
It was a defining moment, defeating a former Grand Slam quarterfinalist to qualify for his first-ever main draw appearance at a major.
"It was amazing," Rodesch said in an on-court interview afterward. "You dream as a kid of playing Wimbledon, and my first Grand Slam being at Wimbledon is a dream come true."
In the first round, Rodesch fell to Chile’s Cristian Garin, ranked No. 117 in the world. He showed flashes of potential on an outer court but ultimately fell in three sets, 7-6 (8), 6-4, 6-4. But that didn’t diminish the milestone or his hopes for the future.
"Of course, I'm sad that I lost,” Rodesch said in the ITF Media interview. “But I think I can also take a lot of positives from this one and go from here."
Chris Rodesch is not just chasing dreams anymore, ones that an illness once seemed to have dashed, he is living them.
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