American Taylor Dent capped a 12-year professional career in 2010 by going 12-19 and ending the season ranked No. 118.
Citing injury concerns, he announced his retirement in November of 2010.
For his career, he won four titles and racked up more than $2.5 million in prize money, achieving a high ranking of No. 21 during the summer of 2005.
Dent spent three seasons ranked in the world’s top 35, but suffered groin and back injuries in 2006 that limited his productivity. He had back surgery in March of 2007 and did not play on the tour at all, not returning until late May of 2008. His first win of the comeback came that November.
Dent broke into the top 100 in 2002, finishing the season 57th. Ranked 129th to start the year, he reached the third round of the Australian Open and repeated the feat at Wimbledon. His first career ATP title came at Newport, where he defeated fellow American James Blake for the championship.
In 2003, Dent began a three-year run in the Top 35 by finishing 33rd. He started the year by winning Memphis, upsetting No. 6 Andy Roddick in the final. He reached the quarterfinals at the Queen’s Club and reached the fourth round at the US Open, falling to No. 1 Andre Agassi when an injury knocked him out of commission while leading 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-5. He rebounded to win Moscow and finished the season ranked 33rd.
Dent continued the success in 2004, starting the year with a semifinal trip at Adelaide and reaching the third round of the Australian Open, where he fell to Roddick in straight sets. He reached the fourth round at Indian Wells, the semifinals at Queen’s Club and the third round at Wimbledon, bested again by Roddick. He was particularly impressive at the Athens Summer Olympics, reaching the semifinals before falling to Chile’s Nicolas Massu, then falling to Fernando Gonzalez in the bronze medal match, 4-6, 6-2, 14-16. Dent rounded out his season by reaching the final at Tokyo and the quarterfinals at Madrid.
The following season, 2005, saw Dent at the top of his game, finishing 29th on the year and ranked as highly as 21st during the season. He reached the finals at Adelaie, the quarterfinals at Sydney and the fourth round of Indian Wells, upsetting No. 4 Marat Safin. He followed that with a quarterfinal trip at Miami, reached the semifinals at the Queen’s Club and the fourth round of Wimbledon, losing a four-set marathon to No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt. Another injury cost him a chance to win Indianapolis, as he retired in the final while trailing 6-4, 0-6, 0-3. Despite the injury, he jumped to 21st in the rankings after the tournament, his career best.
Dent clearly wasn’t healthy at the beginning of 2006, losing three of his first four matches and dropping to 41st in the rankings. He eventually shut down the entire season, then had back surgery early in 2007 that cost him that entire campaign.
He made his return to the pro circuit in May of 2008, playing in the Carson Challenger and losing in the first round. After four straight losses, he reached the quarterfinals of the Champaign Challenger in November, but was 0-2 as an ATP competitor.
In 2009, Dent returned to main ATP tour action and fought his way back into the Top 100, despite starting the year ranked No. 865. He shone particularly at Miami, fighting through two qualifying rounds to the main draw, then defeating No. 20 Nicolas Almargo and No. 16 Tommy Robredo to reach the fourth round before losing to No. 2 Roger Federer. A few months later he reached the third round of the US Open, won the Challengers at Tulsa and Knoxville, and reached the final of the one at Champaign to claw his way back to 77th.
The feel-good story faltered in 2010 as Dent fell back outside the Top 100 and announced his retirement. He reached the second round of all four majors, but could not defend the ample supply of points he had won in 2009.
Year-End Singles Rankings: 1998 – 419th; 1999 – 300th; 2000 – 179th; 2001 – 116th; 2002 – 57th; 2003 – 33rd; 2004 – 32nd; 2005 – 29th; 2006 – 573rd; 2007 – n/a; 2008 – 879th; 2009 – 76th; 2010 – 118th.
Personal
Is the son of former ATP player Phil Dent, who was a finalist in the 1974 Australian Open and won the 1975 Australian Open doubles title with Dent’s future godfather, John Alexander. His mother, Betty Ann (Grubb) Stuart reached the US Open doubles finals in 1977 and was a Top 10 US player. His step-brother, Brett Hansen-Dent, played on the ATP circuit for a brief time and played in the NCAA finals while at USC. In 2006, Dent married WTA player Jennifer Hopkins, a wedding attended by Maria Sharapova, Nick Bollettieri and Tommy Haas among others.