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Taylor Dent

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Taylor Dent
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceBradenton, Florida
Height1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Turned pro1998
RetiredActive
PlaysRight-handed; one-handed backhand
Prize money$2,067,634
Singles
Career record127–104
Career titles4
Highest rankingNo. 21 (August 8, 2005)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open3rd (2005)
French Open1st (2004)
Wimbledon4th (2005)
US Open4th (2003)
Doubles
Career record14–35
Career titles0
Highest ranking170 (August 20, 2001)
Last updated on: November 16, 2006.
Wimbledon, 2005.

Taylor Phillip Dent (born April 24, 1981) is a tennis player from the United States.

Career

He has won 4 ATP singles titles during his career: Newport (2002), Bangkok (2003), Memphis (2003), and Moscow (2003), and reached the finals of three other events on tour. Dent appeared in a US television commercial for insurer Genworth Financial as the opponent of a young boy playing the role of Jaden Agassi, the son of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

Dent's most memorable performance of his career so far came at the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he made a push all the way to the semifinals, where he was defeated by eventual gold medalist Nicolás Massú of Chile. Even more memorable was his bronze medal match against Fernando González, also of Chile, which he lost 16-14 in the 3rd set.

Unusual for a contemporary tennis player, Dent favors a pure serve-and-volley style of play. His career high rank is World No. 21, reached on August 8, 2005. In the 2006 season, Dent did not play very many competitive matches, due to the recurring back and groin problem.[1]. Dent had back surgery on March 19, 2007.

On May 26, 2008 Dent received a wild card and played at the Carson challenger in USA. It was his first match since Feb. 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 Frederic Niemeyer 6-3 7-6(3). He followed this win up by defeating number 2 seed and fellow American Robert Kendrick. In the third round Dent had to withdraw against Sam Warburg.

Dent commited to playing at the 2009 Australian Open and other tournaments at the start of the year using his protected ranking of 56. At the Australian Open he met fellow American Amer Delic in the first round, he was able to puch Delic to a fifth set, but eventually lost.

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 US Open doubles final in 1977 (with Renée Richards) and was a former Top 10 player in U.S. His stepbrother, Brett Hansen-Dent (born July 2, 1972), played on ATP circuit briefly after reaching NCAA singles final while playing at University of Southern California. His godfather is former Aussie player John Alexander whom was a top ten player and partnered with Phil dent to win the 1975 Australian Open. First cousin Misty May-Treanor is one of top pro volleyball players in the world and a gold medallist at both the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Dent attended Corona del Mar High School and Monte Vista High School in California. He has a tattoo of American and Australian flags on his right shoulder. On December 8, 2006, he married WTA Tour player Jennifer Hopkins. Wedding guests included Maria Sharapova, Nick Bollettieri, Phil Dent, Jan-Michael Gambill, Tommy Haas and Mashona Washington.

Facts

  • Has a 151 mph (243 km/h) serve, third only to Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlović
  • Being once over 215 lb (98 kg), he is very injury prone. His injury areas include his ankle, wrist, pinched nerve, and back. This has often caused Taylor to have to quit some of his matches before their completion.
  • Dent was forced to change his serving movement/style after he returned to tennis from a back injury. Initially, it seemed to work, as Taylor still averaged a high service speed, but his back problems began to occur again in early 2006.
  • January 6, 2006 - Won the 2006 Hopman Cup paired with Lisa Raymond, two rubbers to one.
  • Taylor played for Corona Del Mar H.S. (Newport Beach, CA).
  • Interestingly, Taylor has a somewhat high number of five-set losses in Grand Slam match play (seven overall), including two to Lleyton Hewitt, one at the 2001 Wimbledon tournament, and the other at the 2005 U.S. Open
  • Taylor was a color commentator on the The Tennis Channel for the 2006 U.S. Open with announcer Tim Ryan and was invited back to the 2007 U.S. Open to do both commentating and host the popular "Off-Court Spotlight with Taylor Dent" interviews.

Grand Slam Performance Timeline

Titles (4)

Singles (4)

Tournament 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Australian Open A A A A 3R A 3R 3R 1R A A 1R
French Open A A A A A 1R 1R A A A A
Wimbledon A A 1R 2R 3R 1R 3R 4R A A A
U.S. Open 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R 4R 2R 3R A A A
Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (4)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 7 July 2002 Newport, Rhode Island Grass United States James Blake 6–1, 4–6, 6–4
2. 17 February 2003 Memphis, Tennessee Hard United States Andy Roddick 6–1, 6–4
3. 22 September 2003 Bangkok, Thailand Hard Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero 6–3, 7–6(5)
4. 29 September 2003 Moscow, Russia Carpet Armenia Sargis Sargsian 7–6(5), 6–4

Singles Finalist (3)



See also

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