Taylor Dent

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**Taylor Dent**

Country	United States
Residence	Bradenton, Florida
Date of birth	April 24, 1981 (1981-04-24) (age 27)
Place of birth	Newport Beach, California
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1+¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	91 kg (200 lb/14.3 st)
Turned pro	1998
Retired	active (inactive since mid-2006)
Plays	Right-handed; one-handed backhand
Career prize money	$2,067,634
Singles
Career record:	127–104
Career titles:	4
Highest ranking:	No. 21 (August 8, 2005)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	3rd (2005)
French Open	1st (2004)
Wimbledon	4th (2005)
US Open	4th (2003)
Doubles
Career record:	14–35
Career titles:	0
Highest ranking:	170 (August 20, 2001)
Infobox last updated on: November 16, 2006.

Wimbledon, 2005.

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

1 Career
2 Personal life
3 Facts
4 Titles (4)
- 4.1 Singles (4)
- 4.2 Singles Finalist (3)
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] 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.

Dent's most memorable perfomance of his carrer came at the 2004 Olympic Games, 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 memomrable was his bronze medal match against Fernando Gonzalez, also of Chile, which he lost 16-14 in the 3rd set.

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.[1]

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.

As of Feb.21 2008 Dent has not returned to profesional tennis however it still remains his goal for this year.

[edit] 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/Renée 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.

[edit] Facts

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The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Has a 151 mph serve, third only to Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlovic
Being once over 215 lbs, 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.

[edit] Titles (4)

[edit] Singles (4)

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	James Blake	6–1, 4–6, 6–4
2.	17 February 2003	Memphis, Tennessee	Hard	Andy Roddick	6–1, 6–4
3.	22 September 2003	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard	Juan Carlos Ferrero	6–3, 7–6(5)
4.	29 September 2003	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Sargis Sargsian	7–6(5), 6–4