Taylor Dent

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Taylor Dent
Full nameTaylor Phillip Dent
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceKeller, Texas, United States
Born (1981-04-24) April 24, 1981 (age 42)
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 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 (20 August 2001)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open1R (2003, 2004)
US Open2R (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.

Career[edit]

Early career and back injury[edit]

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[edit]

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.

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

Playing style[edit]

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[edit]

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. 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[edit]

Olympic finals[edit]

Singles: 1 (0–1)[edit]

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
4th place 2004 Athens, Greece Hard Chile Fernando González 4–6, 6–2, 14–16

ATP career finals[edit]

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

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)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jul 2002 Newport, United States International Series Grass United States James Blake 6–1, 4–6, 6–4
Win 2–0 Feb 2003 Memphis, United States Championship Series Hard United States Andy Roddick 6–1, 6–4
Win 3–0 Sep 2003 Bangkok, Thailand International Series Hard Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero 6–3, 7–6(7–5)
Win 4–0 Sep 2003 Moscow, Russia International Series Carpet Armenia Sargis Sargsian 7–6(7–5), 6–4
Loss 4–1 Oct 2004 Tokyo, Japan Championship Series Hard Czech Republic Jiří Novák 7–5, 1–6, 3–6
Loss 4–2 Jan 2005 Adelaide, Australia International Series Hard Sweden Joachim Johansson 5–7, 3–6
Loss 4–3 Jul 2005 Indianapolis, United States International Series Hard United States Robby Ginepri 6–4, 3–6, 0–3, ret.

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)[edit]

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)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Sep 2004 Beijing, China International Series Hard United States Alex Bogomolov Jr. United States Justin Gimelstob
United States Graydon Oliver
6–4, 4–6, 6–7(6–8)


ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals[edit]

Singles: 7 (5–2)[edit]

Legend
ATP Challenger (3–1)
ITF Futures (2–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (4–2)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (1–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Jul 1999 USA F9, Redding Futures Hard United States Wade McGuire 6–4, 6–1
Loss 1–1 Dec 1999 USA F21, Laguna Niguel Futures Hard Austria Alexander Peya 4–6, 3–6
Win 2–1 Mar 2000 USA F6, San Antonio Futures Hard Brazil Daniel Melo 6–2, 6–3
Win 3–1 Jun 2001 Surbiton, United Kingdom Challenger Grass South Africa Neville Godwin 4–6, 7–6(7–3), 6–2
Win 4–1 Sep 2009 Tulsa, United States Challenger Hard United States Wayne Odesnik 7–6(11–9), 7–6(7–4)
Win 5–1 Nov 2009 Knoxville, United States Challenger Hard Serbia Ilija Bozoljac 6–3, 7–6(8–6)
Loss 5–2 Nov 2009 Champaign-Urbana, United States Challenger Hard United States Michael Russell 5–7, 4–6

Doubles: 1 (1–0)[edit]

Legend
ATP Challenger (1–0)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Dec 2000 Champaign-Urbana, United States Challenger Hard United States Mardy Fish Israel Noam Behr
United States Michael Russell
walkover

Performance timeline[edit]

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; (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[edit]

Tournament 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A Q1 Q2 Q1 3R A 3R 3R 1R A A 1R 2R 0 / 6 7–6 54%
French Open A A A A A Q1 1R 1R A A A A A 2R 0 / 3 1–3 25%
Wimbledon A A A 1R 2R 3R 1R 3R 4R A A A 1R 2R 0 / 8 9–8 53%
US Open Q1 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R 4R 2R 3R A A A 3R 2R 0 / 10 11–10 52%
Win–loss 0–0 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 0 / 27 28–27 51%
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics Not Held A Not Held 4th Not Held A NH 0 / 1 4–2 67%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells A A A 1R 1R 2R A 4R 4R A A A 2R 1R 0 / 7 7–7 50%
Miami A A A A 2R Q1 2R 2R QF A A A 4R 2R 0 / 6 10–6 63%
Monte Carlo A A A A A A 1R 2R A A A A A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Madrid Not Masters Series Q2 Q2 QF 1R A A A A A 0 / 2 3–2 60%
Canada A A A A A 3R A A 2R A A A A A 0 / 2 3–2 60%
Cincinnati A A A 2R 1R 3R A 1R 1R A A A A 2R 0 / 6 4–6 40%
Paris A A A A A Q2 Q2 1R 2R A A A A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Hamburg A A A A A Q1 A A A A A A NMS 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–3 5–3 1–2 8–6 7–6 0–0 0–0 0–0 4–2 2–3 0 / 27 29–27 52%
Year-end ranking 410 227 181 124 57 33 32 29 574 865 76 118

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  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.

External links[edit]