Photograph of Taylor Dent.
Taylor Dent

Overview

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

Career

He 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. However, he may be best known (at least in the US) as the opponent of a young boy playing the role of Jaden Agassi, the son of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, in a television commercial for insurer Genworth Financial.

Unusually for a contemporary tennis player, Dent favored 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.http://www.sportsmediainc.net/tennisweek/index.cfm?func=showarticle&newsid=15495&bannerregion=

According to Atptennis.com, Dent had back surgery on March 19, 2007, and hopes to return to the professional circuit by the end of the U.S. summer hard court season.

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 (w/Renee Richards) and was a former Top 10 player in U.S. His step-brother, 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. First cousin Misty May is one of top pro volleyball players in world and won a gold medal at Athens 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 serve, third only to Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlovic *Being over 80 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 has often been likened to soccer sensation Demetrio Rojas *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.

Titles (4)

Singles (4)
Singles Finalist (3)

External links

* Official Site (Coming soon) *
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That biography says:

...He won the Pakistan International Junior Championships and went on to win more, such as the Casablanca Cup in Mexico and the LTA International Junior Championships in Roehampton where he beat Olivier Rochus, Andy Ram and Taylor Dent. In the World Super Junior Championships, he beat Andy Roddick. By 18, he was a Top 20 junior player, and decided to turn pro.

This biography says:

*2004 **Tokyo (lost to Jiří Novák) *2005 **Adelaide (lost to Joachim Johansson) **Indianapolis (lost to Robby Ginepri)

This biography says:

*2004 **Tokyo (lost to Jiří Novák) *2005 **Adelaide (lost to Joachim Johansson) **Indianapolis (lost to Robby Ginepri)

This biography says:

...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.

That biography says:

...He served as a USA Tennis National Coach from 1998 to 2001, but in 2001 he resigned from to become 19-year-old Taylor Dent's personal coach....

This biography says:

...However, he may be best known (at least in the US) as the opponent of a young boy playing the role of Jaden Agassi, the son of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, in a television commercial for insurer Genworth Financial....

This biography says:

...*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...

This biography says:

...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.

This biography says:

*Has a 151 mph serve, third only to Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlovic *Being over 80 kg, he is very injury prone. His injury areas include his ankle, wrist, pinched nerve, and back...

That biography says:

...At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Roddick lost to Chilean Fernando González, the eventual bronze medal winner, in the third round. Roddick was part of a U.S. tennis delegation that included Taylor Dent, Mardy Fish, Vince Spadea, Bob and Mike Bryan, Martina Navratilova, Venus Williams, Chanda Rubin, and Lisa Raymond...

That biography says:

...At just 6 years old, Kring started playing tennis with Dave Sobel, an ex-junior coach of Andre Agassi. Kring always was a big fan of and loved to watch Taylor Dent and Pete Sampras. He currently lives in Florida. William Kring is coached by Mark Dalzell of the Bollettieri Tennis Academy...

This biography says:

...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.

This biography says:

...However, he may be best known (at least in the US) as the opponent of a young boy playing the role of Jaden Agassi, the son of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, in a television commercial for insurer Genworth Financial....

That biography says:

...;2006 She started 2006 by qualifying for the Hopman Cup tournament in Perth with Peter Wessels where the duo went all the way to the final to be beaten in a very close mixed doubles by the American team of Taylor Dent and Lisa Raymond. At the Hopman Cup, she won 3 out of her 5 singles matches (def. Lisa Raymond, Gisela Dulko and Anna-Lena Groenefeld; lost to Samantha Stosur and Shuai Peng)...

That biography says:

...This was the first time he had successfully defended a title and the third time he had won the championship. He then reached the semifinals at both the RCA Championships in Indianapolis, losing to Taylor Dent, and the Canada Masters tournament in Montreal, losing to Andre Agassi....