The 21st century
United States · born Newport Beach, California, 1981 · right-handed · serve-and-volleyer · Newport champion 2002
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21
Career-high ATP singles ranking, August 2005
4
ATP singles titles, the first on grass at Newport in 2002
148 mph
Serve at Wimbledon in 2010, the tournament record until 2025
1st
Father and son, with Phil Dent, to win ATP singles titles in the Open Era
4R
Wimbledon 2005, his best result there
Taylor Dent was born in Newport Beach, California, in 1981, the son of two touring professionals: Phil Dent, the Australian who reached the 1974 Australian Open final, and Betty Ann Grubb, a US Open doubles finalist in 1977. Coached by his father, he turned professional in 1998 and played a pure serve-and-volley game, rare in his generation.
Back trouble forced him to change his service action early on, but in 2002 he broke into the top 100 and won his first title on grass at Newport. In 2003 he won three more, in Memphis, where he beat Andy Roddick in the final, Bangkok and Moscow. At the 2004 Athens Olympics he reached the semi-finals and lost the bronze medal match to Fernando González 16-14 in the final set, after holding match points. He reached the fourth round of Wimbledon and a career-high No. 21 in 2005.
Back and groin injuries kept him off the tour from February 2006, and he had back surgery in March 2007. He returned in 2008, reached the fourth round in Miami as a qualifier in 2009 and the third round of that year's US Open, and in 2010 set a Wimbledon serve record of 148 mph. He retired in November 2010 with four ATP titles, and later opened a racquet and lawn club in Keller, Texas, with his family.
| Newport 2002 | Dropped one set all week and beat James Blake 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the final, having lost to him in their only previous meeting |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon 2002 | Lost in the third round to Wayne Arthurs 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, one of the few Wimbledon men's singles matches with tiebreaks in each of the first four sets, and played without a break of serve |
| Wimbledon 2010 | Served at 148 mph in a defeat by Novak Djokovic, the fastest serve recorded at Wimbledon until Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard's 153 mph in 2025 |
| Surbiton 2001 | Won the grass-court Challenger, beating Neville Godwin 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 in the final |
| Newport, Rhode Island | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Men's singles Hall of Fame Open | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I can't serve it as big, but I am working on my volleys a lot and I don't think I have to serve as big."
The person behind the player.
Newport, July 2002
Dent did not know he had made history. "My dad called me the next day as I was fighting my hangover and he told me, 'Hey, you put us in history yesterday.' I thought that was pretty neat." Fifteen years later he still called it one of the proudest moments of his career.
Source: Tennis MajorsA tennis family
His father reached an Australian Open final, his mother a US Open doubles final, and his godfather was John Alexander, his father's partner when they won the 1975 Australian Open doubles. His half-brother also played on the ATP circuit.
Source: WikipediaAthens, 2004
In the Olympic bronze medal match he held two match points against Fernando González and lost the final set 16-14.
Source: Tennis MajorsUS Open, 2009
Back from surgery and on a wild card, he won a five-set second-round match against Iván Navarro, took the umpire's microphone to thank the crowd and ran a victory lap of the stadium.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon, 2010
In his last Wimbledon he served at 148 mph on Centre Court in a defeat by Novak Djokovic. The mark stood as the Wimbledon record for 15 years, until Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard served at 153 mph in 2025.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025; ESPNFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
Join freePage updated 4 November 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.
