Phil Dent

Phil Dent

Full name	Philip Clive Dent
Country (sports)	Australia
Residence	Newport Beach, California, U.S.
Born	(1950-02-14) 14 February 1950 (age 75) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height	182 cm (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro	1968 (amateur from 1967)
Retired	1983
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record	411–348 (54.2%)
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 17 (23 August 1977)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	F (1974)
French Open	SF (1977)
Wimbledon	QF (1977)
US Open	3R (1973)
Doubles
Career record	409–253 (61.8%)
Career titles	25
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (1975)
French Open	F (1975, 1979)
Wimbledon	F (1977)
US Open	QF (1972, 1973, 1975)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
US Open	W (1976)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	W (1977)

Philip Clive Dent (born 14 February 1950) is a former professional tennis player. Dent's high water mark as a pro singles player was reaching the Australian Open final in 1974, which he lost to Jimmy Connors in four sets. Dent was also the men's doubles champion at the Australian Open in 1975 (with teammate John Alexander), and the mixed-doubles champion at the US Open in 1976 (with teammate Billie Jean King).

Tennis career

As well as his victory in the 1975 Australian Open doubles, Dent reached six more men's doubles finals in Grand Slam Tournaments, finishing runner-up at the Australian Open in 1970, 1973, and 1977, the French Open in 1975 and 1979 and Wimbledon in 1977. Dent was a member of the Australian tennis teams that won the Davis Cup in 1977 and the World Team Cup in 1979.

Before turning professional, Dent won the boys' singles titles at both the Australian Open tournament and at the French Open in 1968.

During his professional career, Dent won three top-level singles titles (in Sydney and in Brisbane, Australia, both in 1979, and the former also in 1971) and 25 doubles titles (also winning the 1968 Australian Hard Courts singles event in Launceston). His career-high singles ranking was world No. 12 (in 1977). Dent retired from professional tennis in 1983.

Dent defeated Björn Borg in the third round of the 1974 Australian Open, the only Australian Open in which he competed.

After retiring as a player, Dent settled in Newport Beach, California. ^[1] Dent was married to Betty Ann Grubb Stuart and their son, Taylor Dent was also a professional tennis player and citizen of the United States. Phil now lives in Texas, where he, his son, and his daughter-in-law Jennifer own a tennis academy. ^[2]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: (1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1974	Australian Open	Grass	Jimmy Connors	6–7(7–9), 4–6, 6–4, 3–6

Doubles: (1 title, 6 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1970	Australian Open	Grass	John Alexander	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	3–6, 6–8, 3–6
Loss	1973	Australian Open	Grass	John Alexander	Mal Anderson John Newcombe	3–6, 4–6, 6–7
Win	1975	Australian Open	Grass	John Alexander	Bob Carmichael Allan Stone	6–3, 7–6
Loss	1975	French Open	Grass	John Alexander	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	4–6, 6–2, 2–6, 4–6
Loss	1977	Wimbledon	Grass	John Alexander	Ross Case Geoff Masters	3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 9–8(7–4), 4–6
Loss	1977	Australian Open	Grass	John Alexander	Ray Ruffels Allan Stone	6–7, 6–7
Loss	1979	French Open	Grass	Ross Case	Gene Mayer Sandy Mayer	4–6, 4–6, 4–6

Mixed doubles: (1 title)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1976	US Open	Grass	Billie Jean King	Frew McMillan Betty Stöve	3–6, 6–2, 7–5

Grand Slam performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

P#

DNQ

A

Z#

PO

G

S

B

NMS

NTI

P

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977		1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	Career SR
Australian Open	1R	QF	2R	3R	2R	A	1R	F	2R	2R	QF	2R	2R	QF	3R	3R	4R	2R	0 / 17
French Open	A	P1	2R	3R	1R	A	3R	A	1R	A	SF		1R	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 8
Wimbledon	A	1R	3R	2R	2R	A	A	2R	4R	4R	QF		3R	2R	4R	1R	A	A	0 / 12
US Open	A	A	1R	A	2R	1R	3R	A	2R	1R	2R		1R	1R	A	1R	1R	A	0 / 11
Strike rate	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 5		0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 48

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

Career finals

Doubles (25 titles, 25 runner-ups)

Result	No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	1970	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	John Alexander	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	3–6, 6–8, 3–6
Loss	2.	1970	Hilversum, Netherlands	Hard	John Alexander	Bill Bowrey Owen Davidson	3–6, 4–6, 2–6
Win	1.	1970	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	John Alexander	Željko Franulović Jan Kodeš	10–8, 6–2, 6–4
Win	2.	1971	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Hard	John Alexander	Mal Anderson Alex Metreveli	6–7, 2–6, 6–3, 7–6, 7–6
Win	3.	1971	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	John Alexander	John Newcombe Tom Okker	5–7, 6–3, 6–4
Win	4.	1971	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Frank Froehling Clark Graebner	7–6, 6–4
Loss	3.	1971	Vancouver WCT, Canada		John Alexander	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	7–5, 7–6, 0–6, 5–7, 6–7
Loss	4.	1972	St. Louis WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	John Newcombe Tony Roche	6–7, 2–6
Win	5.	1972	Louisville WCT, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Arthur Ashe Bob Lutz	6–4, 6–3
Loss	5.	1973	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	John Alexander	Mal Anderson John Newcombe	3–6, 4–6, 6–7
Win	6.	1973	Toronto WCT, Canada	Carpet	John Alexander	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 6–2
Loss	6.	1973	Brussels WCT, Belgium	Carpet	John Alexander	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	4–6, 6–7
Win	7.	1973	Cincinnati, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	1–6, 7–6, 7–6
Loss	7.	1974	Richmond WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Nikola Pilić Allan Stone	3–6, 6–3, 6–7
Win	8.	1974	Miami WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	4–6, 6–4, 7–5
Win	9.	1974	Monte Carlo WCT, Monaco	Clay	John Alexander	Manuel Orantes Tony Roche	7–6, 4–6, 7–6, 6–3
Win	10.	1975	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	John Alexander	Bob Carmichael Allan Stone	6–3, 7–6
Loss	8.	1975	Fort Worth WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	7–6, 6–7, 3–6
Win	11.	1975	San Antonio WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Mark Cox Cliff Drysdale	7–6, 4–6, 6–4
Loss	9.	1975	Tokyo Indoor, Japan	Carpet	John Alexander	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	4–6, 7–6, 2–6
Win	12.	1975	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Bob Carmichael Cliff Drysdale	6–1, 6–4
Loss	10.	1975	French Open, Paris	Clay	John Alexander	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	4–6, 6–2, 2–6, 4–6
Win	13.	1975	Chicago, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Mike Cahill John Whitlinger	6–3, 6–4
Win	14.	1975	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Cliff Drysdale	Marcelo Lara Joaquín Loyo-Mayo	7–6, 6–4
Loss	11.	1975	North Conway, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Haroon Rahim Erik van Dillen	6–7, 6–7
Win	15.	1976	Atlanta WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Wojtek Fibak Karl Meiler	6–3, 6–4
Loss	12.	1976	St. Louis WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	4–6, 2–6
Win	16.	1976	Denver WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Jimmy Connors Billy Martin	6–7, 6–2, 7–5
Loss	13.	1976	Woodlands Doubles, Texas	Hard	Allan Stone	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	1–6, 4–6, 7–5, 6–7
Loss	14.	1977	Jackson, U.S.	Carpet	Ken Rosewall	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	2–6, 6–7
Loss	15.	1977	Houston WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Ilie Năstase Adriano Panatta	3–6, 4–6
Loss	16.	1977	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Kim Warwick	Bob Hewitt Karl Meiler	6–3, 3–6, 4–6, 4–6
Loss	17.	1977	Wimbledon, London	Grass	John Alexander	Ross Case Geoff Masters	3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 9–8, 4–6
Win	17.	1977	Cincinnati, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Bob Hewitt Roscoe Tanner	6–3, 7–6
Win	18.	1977	Washington, D.C., U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart	7–5, 7–5
Win	19.	1977	Louisville, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Chris Kachel Cliff Letcher	6–1, 6–4
Loss	18.	1977	Adelaide, Australia	Grass	John Alexander	Syd Ball Kim Warwick	6–3, 6–7, 4–6
Win	20.	1977	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	John Alexander	Ray Ruffels Allan Stone	7–6, 2–6, 6–3
Loss	19.	1977	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	John Alexander	Ray Ruffels Allan Stone	6–7, 6–7
Loss	20.	1978	Memphis, U.S.	Carpet	John Newcombe	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	6–3, 6–7, 2–6
Win	21.	1978	Forest Hills WCT, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart	7–6, 7–6
Win	22.	1978	Los Angeles, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Fred McNair Raúl Ramírez	6–3, 7–6
Win	23.	1978	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	John Alexander	Syd Ball Allan Stone	6–3, 7–6
Win	24.	1979	Hobart, Australia	Grass	Bob Giltinan	Ion Țiriac Guillermo Vilas	8–6
Loss	18.	1979	Dayton, U.S.	Carpet	Ross Case	Cliff Drysdale Bruce Manson	6–3, 3–6, 6–7
Loss	19.	1979	French Open, Paris	Clay	Ross Case	Gene Mayer Sandy Mayer	4–6, 4–6, 4–6
Loss	23.	1979	Adelaide, Australia	Grass	John Alexander	Colin Dibley Chris Kachel	7–6, 6–7, 4–6
Loss	24.	1980	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Rod Frawley	John McEnroe Matt Mitchell	6–8
Win	25.	1982	Guarujá, Brazil	Clay	Kim Warwick	Carlos Kirmayr Cássio Motta	6–7, 6–2, 6–3
Loss	25.	1982	Denver, U.S.	Carpet	Kim Warwick	Kevin Curren Steve Denton	4–6, 4–6

References

1. Phil Dent Goes on Emotional Ride With Son - latimes Retrieved 23 December 2016.
2. Former tennis pros coach the next generation at The Birch Racquet & Lawn Club in Keller Retrieved 1 April 2024.

External links

• Phil Dent at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Phil Dent at the International Tennis Federation
• Phil Dent at the Davis Cup
• Phil Dent at Tennis Australia