Odesnik was introduced to tennis at age 7 by his grandmother,
Junior career (2000–01) In 2000 Odesnik lost in the finals in singles at the Easter Bowl. In 2001 he won the singles title at the
El Paso Youth Tennis Centre ITF Tournament, was a semifinalist in both singles and doubles (with Jarrett Chirico) at the
USTA Junior International Hard Court Championships, finished in third place in singles and doubles (with Chirico) at the boys’ 16 USTA Super National Hard Court Championships, and was a boys’ 16 singles semifinalist at the USTA Super National Clay Court Championships. He also won the
Curaçao Junior Open, and won the doubles title (with Chirico) and at the USTA Super National Spring Championships – The Easter Bowl.
Professional career; 2001–04 Odesnik first competed professionally in 2001, playing only one match. He didn't win anything in 2002, but did go on to win two futures events in
Jamaica in 2003, winning the first over
Jacob Adaktusson in the final, and the next against
Juan Mónaco in the final. 2004 saw Odesnik make three Futures finals late in the season, losing at first to
Horia Tecău, then making the second final and again losing to Tecău, then losing in his third final to Brendan Evans. He also participated in the
2004 U.S. Open, after receiving a wildcard entry into the main draw. He lost to
David Sánchez. Odesnik reached one Futures doubles final partnering with
Zack Fleishman, but lost in the final to Tecău (this time in doubles) and
Alex Kuznetsov.
2005 Odesnik reached one Futures doubles final with
Josh Goffi, but lost to
Scott Lipsky and
David Martin. In 2005 singles play, Odesnik won two finals out of five in Futures play, ending the year with a 10-match winning streak. He won two straight titles in tournaments entered, in
Honolulu and
Waikoloa, Hawaii. He also participated in an
ATP Masters Series event, at the
Indian Wells Masters, losing in the first round to
Fernando Verdasco. He wound up 2005 with a 10-match winning streak and ranked 265 for singles, 1,091 for doubles.
2006 In 2006 Odesnik won three singles titles on the Futures circuit. He lost in straight sets to
Raemon Sluiter at the
2005 U.S. Open. He beat
Scott Oudsema, in his first title of the Futures year in
Little Rock, Arkansas, as he did not drop a set in any of his matches, then
Harsh Mankad in
Mobile, Alabama to win a title the following week, At the August
2007 Rogers Masters, Odesnik had an amazing run. In qualifying he defeated
Jan Hernych. He went on to the main draw of the ATP Masters Series Canada, and upset
Ivan Ljubičić in three sets, before going down to
Frank Dancevic. At the
2007 U.S. Open, Odesnik beat
Danai Udomchoke of
Thailand 7–5 in the fifth set to reach the second round. He then lost there to eventual quarterfinalist
Juan Ignacio Chela. In October in
Sacramento, California, he beat
Yen-Hsun Lu in the finals. Later that month in Busan, Korea, he again defeated Lu, before losing in the quarterfinals. In December,
Alex Kuznetsov,
Jesse Levine, and Odesnik were invited by the
USTA to play off in a
round-robin for the
wild-card berth in the
Australian Open. Levine won the wild card, defeating Odesnik. Odesnik was 4–3 for the year in ATP play, and 26–17 on the Challenger circuit. In April at the International Series in Houston, Texas, he beat
Dudi Sela, and
Sergio Roitman. At the
World Team Championship in Germany in May he beat
Ivo Minář, and in doubles he and partner
James Blake beat
Lucas Arnold and
Sebastián Prieto, and Czechs
Tomáš Berdych and
Pavel Vízner. In early 2008 Odesnik was coached by
Félix Mantilla Botella. At the
French Open in May, he beat Cañas 7–6, 7–6, 7–6 in a very tight three-hour and 46-minute match that got him to round 2 of the grand slam. "I was just trying not to put [Cañas] on a pedestal in my mind", said Odesnik. Odesnik underwent rehab on an injured
Muscle in his left hip; a small tear in his
groin that he had suffered in a tournament in Poland. In August he beat
Bobby Reynolds in Los Angeles,
Sébastien Grosjean in New Haven, and at the US Open
Fabio Fognini. In November Odesnik beat
Diego Junqueira in Ecuador. He ended 2008 ranked #119 for singles, and #558 for doubles. In April at the
U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in
Houston, Texas at
River Oaks Country Club, Odesnik defeated third-seeded
Jürgen Melzer of Austria (winning 94% of his second-serve points), beat fellow American
John Isner in a 2:37 quarterfinal marathon, and defeated
Björn Phau in the semifinals to reach his first ATP World Tour final, in which he lost to
Lleyton Hewitt. Following the tournament, he received his then-career-best world ranking of #77. As of April 11, in 14 ATP World Tour clay-court matches he had the best winning percentage among Americans on clay; 0.714. At the
2009 French Open Odesnik lost in three hours and 43 minutes on the main
Court Philippe Chatrier to the hometown favorite
Gilles Simon. At Wimbledon Odesnik lost his first round match to 30th-ranked Jürgen Melzer. The match generated some media attention as a consequence of the patterns of pre-match betting on the result, with the online betting exchange
Betfair reporting that unusually large sums for a low-profile match were wagered on the straight sets scoreline. Officials at Betfair did not suspect anything untoward, noting that an announcement had been made on TV shortly before the match that Odesnik was injured. At the
2009 Indianapolis Tennis Championships in July, Odesnik beat fourth-seeded
Igor Kunitsyn.
2010 On March 26, 2010, after having reached a world ranking of 98 in professional tennis, Odesnik pleaded guilty to importing
human growth hormone (HGH) to Australia, prior to the
Brisbane International, a warm-up event for the
Australian Open. He was fined US$7,000, and faced a multi-year banishment from professional tennis. On April 19, Odesnik agreed to a voluntary suspension from the tour while awaiting a hearing by an independent tribunal, which was expected to take place around June 2010. In the meantime, Odesnik was free to return to the tour at any time. On May 19, 2010, Odesnik was banned—initially for two years—by the
International Tennis Federation, later reduced to one year on account of his "substantial assistance" with the Federation's anti-doping program, after pleading guilty to importing HGH into Australia. The suspension was dated to December 29, 2009. As part of the ban, his results since December 29 were erased, and he was required to forfeit his ranking points and prize money. Odesnik was ranked No. 114 and had earned more than $90,000 in prize money in 2010. In January 2013, it was revealed that Odesnik's name appeared in handwritten records of
Biogenesis of America, a former Miami sports clinic linked to a performance-enhancing drug scandal in Major League Baseball. In records for 2009, 2010, and 2011, under the heading of 'Tennis' in five client lists, Odesnik's name appeared numerous times; the records indicated that he was billed $500 per month by the clinic. Odesnik denied any connection to the clinic.
2011 Unranked, Odesnik received a main draw
wild card for
ITF Futures event U.S.A. F1, and reached the quarter-finals. The following week, again as a wild card, he retired from his second round qualifying match. As the season wore on, Odesnik picked up a pair of singles titles at Challenger events: The Savannah Challenger, where he defeated
Donald Young in the final, and the Fifth Third Bank Championships, where he beat
James Ward.
2012 Odesnik started the year as the sixth seed at the
Seguros Bolívar Open, a Challenger event, where he won the singles title by defeating
Adrian Ungur in the final. He did not drop a set during the tournament.
2015 On March 18, 2015, Odesnik was handed a 15-year ban after a second doping violation after testing positive for anabolic agents and peptides. ==Style of play==