Taylor Dent Bio: Update

Taylor Phillip Dent, born on April 24, 1981, is a tennis player from the United States. He’s won four ATP singles titles so far: Newport (2002), Bangkok (2003), Memphis (2003) and Moscow (2003). He also reached the finals of three other events on tour. But what he may be best known for is playing the opponent of Jaden Agassi, the son of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, in a TV commercial for Genworth Financial.

Here’s another strange fact about Taylor. Unlike most contemporary tennis players he favors 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, Taylor did not play very many competitive matches due to injuries. He had back surgery on March 19, 2007,.

Tennis Genes

Tennis is in Taylor’s DNA. He just happens to be the son of former ATP player and 1974 Australian Open finalist Phil Dent; his mom, Betty Ann (Grubb) Stuart reached the U.S. Open doubles final in 1977 and was a former Top 10 player in U.S. Taylor’s step-brother, Brett Hansen-Dent, played on the ATP circuit after reaching the NCAA singles final.

Fast Stats

Taylor 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, Jan-Michael Gambill, Tommy Haas and Mashona Washington.

He has a 151 mile-per-hour serve, third only to Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlovic.

Being over 80 kg, he is very injury-prone. He’s sustained injuries to his ankle, wrist, pinched nerve and back. This has often caused Taylor to have to quit some of his matches before their completion.

He was forced to change his serving movement/style after he returned to tennis from a back injury.

Taylor was a color commentator on the The Tennis Channel for the 2006 U.S Open and was invited back to the 2007 U.S. Open to commentate.

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