Chris Rodesch has learned to walk again, now he climbs the Challenger circuit | ATP tour | Tennis

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Rodesch has learned to walk again, now he climbs the Challenger circuit

Read how the 24-year-old overcame a health problem as a teenager
February 3, 2026

Chris Rodesch was a promising junior who made the choice between playing college tennis or turning pro. At 17, he seemed to be on the collegiate path, until tennis suddenly disappeared from the equation completely.

Instead, the Luxembourger learned to walk and perform daily tasks again in 2019. Rodesch – now at career No. 138 in the PIF ATP Rankings after back-to-back title runs on the ATP Challenger circuit – was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease caused by food poisoning he suffered during a junior tournament.

“My body just went numb,” Rodesch told ATPtour.com. “I couldn’t open bottles anymore, I couldn’t walk straight anymore. I could hardly climb stairs anymore because my nerves weren’t responding.”

Raised in a sporting family – his father was a Luxembourgish footballer and his mother a former basketball player – Rodesch had spent his youth building elite sporting skills. Rodesch, who is 198cm tall, played handball and football, but tennis “was always number one”. He was inspired to pick up a racket after watching Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer clash in the Roland Garros final.

But Rodesch’s lifelong athletic foundation quickly disappeared as he battled the autoimmune disease.

“I remember when I went to the neurologist for the first time and showed him what I could no longer do because of my nerves. I could no longer stand upright,” Rodesch remembers. “I lost my balance and he immediately said, ‘This is it. This is the disease. We have to hospitalize you’.”

Rodesch’s health problems were so serious that his tennis career became a side issue for a while.

“At first I didn’t even think about competitive tennis anymore,” Rodesch said. “I was just thinking about getting healthy again, being able to walk to school again because I was still in high school. Tennis really became the fifth option.”

Oeiras 1🏆
Oeiras 2🏆

What a fortnight of collecting prizes in Portugal for Rodesch#ATPCchallenger pic.twitter.com/p4BysYUiCj

— ATP Challenger (@ATPChallenger) February 1, 2026

His road back to the field was a long one, taking him two years to get back to the level he played at before. After three months of rehabilitation, Rodesch started playing with a mini racket and lightweight balls aged 10 and under, with the aim of rediscovering the feeling of hitting a tennis ball. It took six months before Rodesch could play normally again and a year before he could start competing. It was a difficult, uncertain period.

“I saw all my friends playing great tournaments, the junior Grand Slams, and I’m lying there in bed,” says Rodesch, who no longer lives with complications from the disease.

Even in the face of adversity, Rodesch recognized a bit of fortune. He also thinks back on that terrifying piece with a sense of perspective.

“There are people who suffer from this disease and whose faces become disfigured or who do not recover from it, perhaps in a wheelchair afterwards,” he said. “It was a long process, but I was lucky with the bad luck.

“I’ve definitely learned to be patient, but also to find happiness in what we do here. We travel the world and explore these beautiful places.”

Before the illness, Rodesch was leaning towards playing collegiate tennis in the United States and in 2020 that dream became a reality. He began his career at the University of Virginia, where he would become a three-time ITA All-American and graduate in 2024.

“I really give credit to the University of Virginia because I haven’t had any results with the disease for two years,” Rodesch said. “UVA is one of the most competitive college teams out there, so they definitely took a risk on me by giving me that scholarship because I didn’t show them that I was ready to compete for them, I don’t think. I have to thank them so many times because they trusted me and it’s great of them and it shows their character.”

After a standout career for the Cavaliers, Rodesch moved to the ATP Challenger circuit and has since won three titles at that level. His first victory came last April in Tallahassee, where he ended Emilio Nava’s 19-match winning streak in the final.

“As a kid you always hear, ‘Challenger’s are kind of a springboard to the ATP,’ and it just makes you proud to be part of this kind of Challenger Tour history,” Rodesch said of his first Challenger crown.

On Sunday, Rodesch capped a two-week period of dominance at ATP Challenger events in Oeiras, Portugal, where he won back-to-back titles. He has plenty to be proud of, and a variety of lessons learned from overcoming Guillain-Barré syndrome.

“To be present when you achieve something great, because with something like that it can be over quickly,” Rodesch reflected. “I think even now, all these little lessons I learned – being present, being patient, being positive – help me go through a difficult phase sometimes.”

Chris Rodesch wins the Oeiras Indoor 2.” style=”width:100%” src=”https://www.atptour.com/-/media/images/news/2026/02/01/22/56/rodesch-oeirasch-2026-trofy.jpg”>
^{Chris Rodesch wins back-to-back ATP Challenger titles in Oeiras, Portugal. Credit: Beatriz Ruivo/FPT}