Taylor Dent

Last updated

Taylor Dent
Taylor Dent at the 2009 Brisbane International.jpg
Full nameTaylor Phillip Dent
Country (sports)Flag of the United States.svg United States
Residence Keller, Texas, United States
Born (1981-04-24) April 24, 1981 (age 44)
Newport Beach, California, United States
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro1998
Retired2010
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 (8 August 2005)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open 3R (2002, 2004, 2005)
French Open 2R (2005)
Wimbledon 4R (2005)
US Open 4R (2003)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games SF – 4th (2004)
Doubles
Career record16–37 (ATP Tour and Grand Slam-level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 170 (20 August 2001)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open 1R (2003, 2004)
US Open 2R (2000)
Last updated on: 20 June 2022.

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.

Contents

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 Miami 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 in four sets. He advanced to the third round after beating Iván Navarro in the second round, in a five-set match. 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 in straight sets. 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, 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 until he was surpassed by Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard at the 2025 Wimbledon tournament.

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 US 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, California, 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 son in 2010 and a daughter in 2014.

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

Dent currently resides in Keller, Texas, with wife Jennifer Hopkins and their four children. In 2020 the two along with Taylor's father, Phil Dent, opened The Birch Racquet and Lawn Club, located in Keller, Texas.

Major finals

Olympic finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScore
4th place 2004 Athens, GreeceHard Flag of Chile.svg Fernando González 4–6, 6–2, 14–16

ATP career finals

Singles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters 1000 Series (0–0)
ATP 500 Series (1–1)
ATP 250 Series (3–2)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–3)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (1–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (1–3)
Indoors (3–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–0 Jul 2002 Newport, United StatesInternational SeriesGrass Flag of the United States.svg James Blake 6–1, 4–6, 6–4
Win2–0 Feb 2003 Memphis, United StatesChampionship SeriesHard Flag of the United States.svg Andy Roddick 6–1, 6–4
Win3–0 Sep 2003 Bangkok, ThailandInternational SeriesHard Flag of Spain.svg Juan Carlos Ferrero 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Win4–0 Sep 2003 Moscow, RussiaInternational SeriesCarpet Flag of Armenia.svg Sargis Sargsian 7–6(7–5), 6–4
Loss4–1 Oct 2004 Tokyo, JapanChampionship SeriesHard Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Jiří Novák 7–5, 1–6, 3–6
Loss4–2 Jan 2005 Adelaide, AustraliaInternational SeriesHard Flag of Sweden.svg Joachim Johansson 5–7, 3–6
Loss4–3 Jul 2005 Indianapolis, United StatesInternational SeriesHard Flag of the United States.svg Robby Ginepri 6–4, 3–6, 0–3, ret.

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters 1000 Series (0–0)
ATP 500 Series (0–0)
ATP 250 Series (0–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (0–1)
Indoors (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1 Sep 2004 Beijing, ChinaInternational SeriesHard Flag of the United States.svg Alex Bogomolov Jr. Flag of the United States.svg Justin Gimelstob
Flag of the United States.svg Graydon Oliver
6–4, 4–6, 6–7(6–8)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 7 (5–2)

Legend
ATP Challenger (3–1)
ITF Futures (2–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (4–2)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1–0Jul 1999USA F9, Redding FuturesHard Flag of the United States.svg Wade McGuire 6–4, 6–1
Loss1–1Dec 1999USA F21, Laguna Niguel FuturesHard Flag of Austria.svg Alexander Peya 4–6, 3–6
Win2–1Mar 2000USA F6, San Antonio FuturesHard Flag of Brazil.svg Daniel Melo 6–2, 6–3
Win3–1Jun 2001 Surbiton, United KingdomChallengerGrass Flag of South Africa.svg Neville Godwin 4–6, 7–6(7–3), 6–2
Win4–1Sep 2009 Tulsa, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of the United States.svg Wayne Odesnik 7–6(11–9), 7–6(7–4)
Win5–1Nov 2009 Knoxville, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of Serbia.svg Ilija Bozoljac 6–3, 7–6(8–6)
Loss5–2Nov 2009 Champaign-Urbana, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of the United States.svg Michael Russell 5–7, 4–6

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Legend
ATP Challenger (1–0)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–0Dec 2000 Champaign-Urbana, United StatesChallengerHard Flag of the United States.svg Mardy Fish Flag of Israel.svg Noam Behr
Flag of the United States.svg Michael Russell
walkover

Performance timeline

Key
W F SFQF#RRRQ#P#DNQAZ#POGSBNMSNTIPNH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 SRW–LWin%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open AA Q1 Q2 Q1 3R A 3R 3R 1R AA 1R 2R 0 / 67–654%
French Open AAAAA Q1 1R 1R AAAAA 2R 0 / 31–325%
Wimbledon AAA 1R 2R 3R 1R 3R 4R AAA 1R 2R 0 / 89–853%
US Open Q1 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R 4R 2R 3R AAA 3R 2R 0 / 1011–1052%
Win–loss0–01–10–10–22–24–33–35–47–30–10–00–02–34–40 / 2728–2751%
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics Not HeldANot Held 4th Not HeldANH0 / 14–267%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells AAA 1R 1R 2R A 4R 4R AAA 2R 1R 0 / 77–750%
Miami AAAA 2R Q1 2R 2R QF AAA 4R 2R 0 / 610–663%
Monte Carlo AAAAAA 1R 2R AAAAAA0 / 21–233%
Madrid Not Masters Series Q2 Q2 QF 1R AAAAA0 / 23–260%
Canada AAAAA 3R AA 2R AAAAA0 / 23–260%
Cincinnati AAA 2R 1R 3R A 1R 1R AAAA 2R 0 / 64–640%
Paris AAAAA Q2 Q2 1R 2R AAAAA0 / 21–233%
Hamburg AAAAA Q1 AAAAAANMS0 / 00–0  
Win–loss0–00–00–01–21–35–31–28–67–60–00–00–04–22–30 / 2729–2752%
Year-end ranking4102271811245733322957486576118

See also

References

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