Dent shows he’s ‘back’ with five-set victory
“You can’t beat this, Taylor Dent said. And he proceeded to take a victory lap around the Grandstand court, slapping hands with fans who repeatedly were chanting, “Dent! Dent! Dent! Dent!” during his four-hour, nine-minute 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (1), 7-5, 7-6 (9) second-round victory over Spain’s Ivan Navarro.
NEW YORK (AP) — After 4 hours, five sets and a match he won’t soon forget, Taylor Dent grabbed the umpire’s microphone and thanked the raucous U.S. Open crowd.
Really, though, they should have been thanking him.
Dent kept his inspiring comeback story on track with a crowd-pleasing victory over Spain’s Ivan Navarro.
The American won on his fourth match point, with a backhand return winner past Navarro that brought the fans at the Grandstand court to their feet. Really, they had been on their feet through most of this match, a tussle between a pair of serve-and-volleyers who played a lot of short points and high-risk, high-reward tennis.
Dent had a bigger game. He finished with 121 winners and 50 unforced errors, with his serve topping out at 147 mph. One of his serves, a 138-mph offering, broke the strapping on the net and caused a 7-minute delay.
None of this, of course, seemed possible two years ago when the 28-year-old, once ranked as high as No. 21, was bedridden with a back injury that some doctors said would never allow him to play tennis again.
He underwent delicate surgery and proved them wrong.
“When they told me I had the opportunity to play tennis again, how could I pass that up?” he said. “A select few get to play professional sports. It would have been naive and irresponsible of me to not try to capitalize and come out here and give it my best.”
Ranked 195th and playing in his first U.S. Open since 2005, Dent’s best has been good enough so far.
Next up, though, is a third-round match against No. 2 Andy Murray. He’ll be a huge underdog. He has overcome these kind of odds before.
“It’s going to be rough, there’s no way around it,” Dent said. “My execution is not where I want it to be, but that’s not going to stop me from battling. That’s how I won today. Even if it’s 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, I’m going to go out and hustle and give everything I’ve got.”
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Taylor Phillip Dent (born April 24, 1981) is a tennis player from the United States.
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’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.
Dent, paired with Lisa Raymond, won the 2006 Hopman Cup, defeating the Netherlands two rubbers to one in the final.
In 2006 Dent did not play very many competitive matches, due to the recurring back and groin problem. Dent had back surgery on March 19, 2007.
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 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.
Using his protected ranking of 56, Dent played the 2009 Australian Open, where he was eliminated in the first round by Amer Delic.
As a qualifier, he reached the fourth round of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, defeating Nicolas 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 8 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.
Unusual for a contemporary tennis player, Dent favors a pure serve-and-volley style of play. He possesses a powerful serve and strong volleys. He is the owner of the fourth fastest serve in the world, at a velocity of 243 km/h. Andy Roddick, Ivo Karlović and Joachim Johansson are the only three players to have served faster.
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 U.S. 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 the NCAA singles final while representing the University of Southern California. His godfather is former top ten player, Australian John Alexander, who was also Phil Dent’s doubles partner when they won the 1975 Australian Open doubles title. His first cousin Misty May-Treanor is one of top pro volleyball players in the world and a gold medalist at both the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics.
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 attended Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California, whom he played for. He also attended Monte Vista High School, also 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, Jan-Michael Gambill, Tommy Haas and Mashona Washington.