Taylor Phillip Dent (born April 24, 1981) is a retired professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player from the United States. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21, winning 4 singles titles.
Career
Early career and back injury
Dent won ATP titles in Newport (2002),
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...
(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
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 13 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in ...
in the final.
Dent played with distinction at the
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece.
The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
, 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
Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career, he reached at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major tournaments. He contested hi ...
of Chile.
Dent, paired with
Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond (born August 10, 1973) is an American former professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. Raymond has eleven major titles to her name: six in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. On June 12, ...
, 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
This page is a glossary of tennis terminology.
A
* Ace (tennis), Ace: Serve where the tennis ball lands inside the ''#service box, service box'' and is not touched by the receiver; thus, a shot that is both a serve and a winner is an ace. Aces a ...
of 56, Dent played the 2009
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
, 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
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player of Latin American descent. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008 French Open – Men's singles, 2008, 201 ...
and
Tommy Robredo
Tomás Robredo Garcés (, ; born 1 May 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006 as a result of winning the 2006 Hamburg Masters – Singles, Hamburg M ...
in the process. He lost to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, 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
Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016. ...
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
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
in straight sets. Following the US Open, Dent won the USTA
Challenger of Oklahoma in
Tulsa
Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...
.
In his opening event of the
2010 season, he entered the main draw at the
2010 Australian Open. He defeated
Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. Fognini's most successful surface is Clay court#Red clay, ...
, in the first round and moved on to face tenth seed
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
, 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
Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spaniards, Spanish tennis coach and a former professional player. He was ranked world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, achieved in April 2009, and w ...
and
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 13 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in ...
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.
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)
Personal life
Dent is the son of former
ATP player and 1974
Australian Open
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...
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
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
and reaching the singles final of the
NCAA Men's Tennis Championship.
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
The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece.
The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
,
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
and the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
.
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
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...
and
Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a r ...
.
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
Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
.
On December 8, 2006, Dent married WTA Tour player,
Jennifer Hopkins. Their wedding party included
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (, ; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. Sharapova won 36 WTA Tour-level sin ...
,
Nick Bollettieri
Nicholas James Bollettieri (July 31, 1931 – December 4, 2022) was an American tennis coach. He pioneered the concept of a tennis boarding school, and helped develop many leading tennis players during the past decades, including Andre Agassi, J ...
,
Jan-Michael Gambill
Jan-Michael Charles Gambill (born June 3, 1977) is an American former professional tennis player who made his professional debut in 1996. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 14, which he achieved on June 18, 2001. Best known for his unu ...
,
Tommy Haas,
Xavier Malisse
Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a Belgian tennis coach and a former professional player. Born in the north-western Flemish Region, Flemish city of Kortrijk and nicknamed ''X-Man'', he is one of only two Belgian men (the other being David G ...
,
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)
ATP career finals
Singles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner-ups)
Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 7 (5–2)
Doubles: 1 (1–0)
Performance timeline
Singles
See also
*
List of male tennis players
There are several lists of tennis players:
;Men:
* List of male singles tennis players
* List of male doubles tennis players
* Rankings
** List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players
** List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players
** ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dent, Taylor
1981 births
Living people
American male tennis players
American people of Australian descent
Hopman Cup competitors
Olympic tennis players for the United States
Sportspeople from Bradenton, Florida
Tennis players from Newport Beach, California
Tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Tennis players from Florida
Monte Vista High School (Danville, California) alumni
21st-century American sportsmen