Taylor Dent

Taylor Phillip Dent (born April 24, 1981) is a retired professional tennis player from the United States. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21, winning 4 singles titles.

Taylor Dent
Full nameTaylor Phillip Dent
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceKeller, Texas
Born (1981-04-24) April 24, 1981
Newport Beach, California
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro1998
RetiredNovember 8, 2010
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$2,563,378
Singles
Career record151–140 (ATP Tour and Grand Slam-level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles4
Highest rankingNo. 21 (August 8, 2005)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open3R (2002, 2004, 2005)
French Open2R (2005)
Wimbledon4R (2005)
US Open4R (2003)
Other tournaments
Olympic GamesSF – 4th (2004)
Doubles
Career record16–37 (ATP Tour and Grand Slam-level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 170 (August 20, 2001)
Last updated on: July 17, 2012.

Career

Early career and back injury

Dent won ATP titles in Newport (2002), Bangkok (2003), Memphis (2003), and Moscow (2003), and reached the finals of three other events on tour. His victory in Memphis is still often referred to as his most impressive victory, as he beat future World No. 1 Andy Roddick in the final.

Dent played with distinction at the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he made a push all the way to the semi-finals, where he was defeated by eventual Gold medalist Nicolás Massú of Chile. He went on to lose the Bronze medal match 16–14 in the third set against Fernando González of Chile.

Dent, paired with Lisa Raymond, won the 2006 Hopman Cup, defeating the Netherlands two sets to one in the final.

In 2006 Dent did not play many competitive matches, due to a recurring back and groin problem. Dent had back surgery on March 19, 2007.

Return from injury

On May 26, 2008 Dent received a wild card and played at the Carson challenger in the United States. It was his first match since February 2006. He lost his first round match to Cecil Mamiit. In July 2008 Dent took a wild card into his first ATP tour event for two seasons at the Hall of Fame tennis tournament in Newport, Rhode Island. He lost in three sets to Canada's Frank Dancevic.

On November 12, 2008 Dent won his first comeback match at the Champaign challenger against Frédéric Niemeyer, 6–3, 7–6(3). He followed this win up by defeating second seed and fellow American Robert Kendrick. In the third round, Dent had to withdraw against Sam Warburg.

Using his protected ranking of 56, Dent played the 2009 Australian Open, where he was eliminated in the first round by Amer Delić.

As a qualifier, he reached the fourth round of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, defeating Nicolás Almagro and Tommy Robredo in the process. He lost to Roger Federer in the fourth round, 3–6, 2–6. Despite the scoreline, the first set was a very entertaining encounter, with Federer's longest service game lasting just short of a quarter of an hour; Dent had eight break point opportunities. He had a poor run of form following this, but reversed the poor form by qualifying for Wimbledon, having entered the qualifying via a wildcard. He won his way through to the main draw, where he lost to Daniel Gimeno-Traver in five sets in the first round.

He received a wild card for the 2009 US Open and won his first US Open match since 2005, upsetting Feliciano López, 4–6, 7–6, 6–3, 7–5. He advanced to the third round after upsetting Iván Navarro in the second round, 6–4, 5–7, 6–7, 7–5, 7–6. Following the match, he took the umpire microphone and thanked the crowd for support, following it with a victory lap around the stadium. In the third round, he was beaten by Andy Murray, 3–6, 2–6, 2–6.

Following the US Open, Dent won the USTA Challenger of Oklahoma in Tulsa.

In his opening event of the 2010 season, he entered the main draw at the 2010 Australian Open. He defeated Fabio Fognini, 6–1, 6–2, 6–2, in the first round and moved on to face tenth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, to whom he lost.

On May 25, 2010, in Roland Garros, against Nicolás Lapentti, Dent served at 240 km/h and set a new tournament record that Fernando Verdasco and Andy Roddick had held before him (with 232 km/h). Additionally, at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships on June 23, 2010, Dent set a record with the fastest serve ever recorded at the Wimbledon tournament at 148 mph.

On November 8, 2010, Taylor Dent announced his retirement from professional tennis.[1]

Playing style

Unusual for a contemporary tennis player, Dent favored a pure serve-and-volley style of play. He possessed a powerful serve and strong volleys. He had the fourth fastest serve in the world, at a velocity of 243 km/h. At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships he set the record for the fastest serve ever recorded at the event with a speed of 238 km/h. (148 mph)[2]

Personal life

Dent is the son of former ATP player and 1974 Australian Open finalist Phil Dent. Taylor's mother, Betty Ann Grubb Stuart, who has remarried, reached the U.S. Open doubles final in 1977 with Renée Richards. Grubb was a former top-10 singles player in the United States. Dent's half-brother, Brett Hansen-Dent, played on the ATP circuit for a short time after playing on the tennis team of the University of Southern California and reaching the singles final of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship.[3]

His godfather is the former top ten player John Alexander, of Australia, who was Phil Dent's doubles partner when that duo won the 1975 Australian Open doubles title.

Dent's first cousin, Misty May-Treanor, was one of the top pro volleyball players in the world, and she and her teammates won the gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Dent appeared in an American TV commercial for the insurance company Genworth Financial as the opponent of a boy playing the role of Jaden Agassi, the young son of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

Dent attended Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, Calif., and he was on the interscholastic tennis team there. Dent also attended the Monte Vista High School, in Northern California.

On December 8, 2006, Dent married WTA Tour player, Jennifer Hopkins. Their wedding party included Maria Sharapova, Nick Bollettieri, Jan-Michael Gambill, Tommy Haas, Xavier Malisse, Willie Alumbaugh and Mashona Washington. Jenny gave birth to a baby boy in 2010 and a baby girl in 2014.

Taylor has been a commentator on The Tennis Channel for the US Open in 2006, 2007, and 2011.

Dent has a tattoo of the American flag and of the Australian flag on his right shoulder.

Dent currently resides in Keller, Texas, with wife Jennifer Hopkins and their four children. The two along with Taylor's father, Phil Dent, are opening The Birch Racquet and Lawn Club, located in Keller, Texas, which is presently being built.

Major finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
4th place2004 Athens, Greece Hard Fernando González 4–6, 6–2, 14–16

Career finals

Singles: 7 (4 wins, 3 losses)

Legend (pre/post 2009)
Grand Slam (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup /
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series /
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP International Series Gold /
ATP World Tour 500 series (1–1)
ATP International Series /
ATP World Tour 250 series (3–2)
Titles by surface
Hard (2–3)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (1–0)
Titles by setting
Outdoors (1–3)
Indoors (3–0)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jul 2002 Newport, United States Grass James Blake 6–1, 4–6, 6–4
Win 2–0 Feb 2003 Memphis, United States Hard (i) Andy Roddick 6–1, 6–4
Win 3–0 Sep 2003 Bangkok, Thailand Hard (i) Juan Carlos Ferrero 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Win 4–0 Sep 2003 Moscow, Russia Carpet (i) Sargis Sargsian 7–6(7–5), 6–4
Loss 4–1 Oct 2004 Tokyo, Japan Hard Jiří Novák 7–5, 1–6, 3–6
Loss 4–2 Jan 2005 Adelaide, Australia Hard Joachim Johansson 5–7, 3–6
Loss 4–3 Jul 2005 Indianapolis, United States Hard Robby Ginepri 6–4, 3–6, 0–3, ret.

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Legend (pre/post 2009)
Grand Slam (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup /
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series /
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP International Series Gold /
ATP World Tour 500 series (0–0)
ATP International Series /
ATP World Tour 250 series (0–1)
Titles by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Titles by setting
Outdoors (0–1)
Indoors (0–0)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Sep 2004 Beijing, China Hard Alex Bogomolov Jr. Justin Gimelstob
Graydon Oliver
6–4, 4–6, 6–7(6–8)

Singles performance timeline

Tournament 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 W–L Win % SR
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A A A A 3R A 3R 3R 1R A A 1R 2R 7–6 57.14 0 / 6
French Open A A A A A 1R 1R A A A A A 2R 1–3 25.00 0 / 3
Wimbledon A A 1R 2R 3R 1R 3R 4R A A A 1R 2R 9–8 52.94 0 / 8
US Open 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R 4R 2R 3R A A A 3R 2R 11–10 52.38 0 / 10
Win–Loss 1–1 0–1 0–2 2–2 4–3 3–3 5–4 7–3 0–1 0–0 0–0 2–3 4–4 28–27 50.90 0 / 27
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells A A 1R 2R 1R A 4R 4R A A A 2R 1R 7–7 50.00 0 / 7
Miami A A A 2R A 2R 2R QF A A A 4R 2R 10–6 62.50 0 / 6
Monte Carlo A A A A A 1R 2R A A A A A A 1–2 33.33 0 / 2
Rome A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0–0 00.00 0 / 0
Madrid A A A A A A QF 1R A A A A A 3–2 60.00 0 / 2
Hamburg A A A A A A A A A A A NMS 0–0 00.00 0 / 0
Toronto / Montreal A A A A 3R A A 2R A A A A A 3–2 60.00 0 / 2
Cincinnati A A 2R 1R 3R A 1R 1R A A A A 2R 4–6 40.00 0 / 6
Shanghai NMS A A 0–0 00.00 0 / 0
Paris A A A A A A 1R 2R A A A A A 1–2 33.33 0 / 2
Career Statistics
Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total
Finals 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 7
Titles 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
Year End Ranking 410 227 181 124 57 33 32 29 574 865 76 118

See also

  • List of male tennis players

References

  1. Dent Retires From Professional Tennis - ATP World Tour
  2. No shock for Djokovic, 2010, retrieved June 23, 2010
  3. Pratt, Steve (October 16, 2015). "Teaching Pro Spotlight: Brett Hansen-Dent". Southern California Tennis News. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
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