Dent continues steady climb up ATP ladder

BRYCE ALDERTON

The Australian Open couldn’t have come at a better time for former

Corona del Mar High standout and current tennis professional Taylor

Dent.

The 23-year-old has started 2005 off in torrid fashion, reaching

the final of the Australian men’s hardcourt championships in

Adelaide, Australia, Jan. 8, which shot him to fifth place in the

current Association of Tennis Professionals points race.

Dent, off to a 4-1 start this year, earned 24 points for his

performance in Adelaide, which included a straight-set victory over

top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open

tuneup.

The year’s first Grand Slam kicks off today in Melbourne,

Australia, with Dent and defending champion Roger Federer, who won

the Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open last year, on the same

side of the draw.

Dent comes off an impressive 2004 even though he didn’t win any

singles tournaments. He still was victorious in 32 matches, the most

since turning pro in 1998, and reached the bronze medal match at the

Olympics.

The 1996 CIF Southern Section singles champion has four career

professional titles to his credit, the last coming in 2003.

But the list could swell judging by his fast start this season.

His father, Phil Dent, a former Australian Open finalist and top

20 player, has served as both coach and, now, more so a fan to his

son, since the younger Dent picked up a racket at age 10.

“He’s doing very well,” Phil Dent said of his son. “His game has

taken awhile to mature and people are overanxious about him doing

better, but he is one of the only guys in the world who plays that

way.”

“That way” is a serve-and-volley game, in stark contrast to the

litany of players pounding ground strokes from the baseline.

“There’s a few guys like [Max] Myrni and [Greg] Rusedski, but

[Taylor Dent] is the last of an honorable breed,” Phil Dent said. “He

has had to learn more difficult shots than most guys. For every

900,000 forehands, he has had to learn to hit half volleys, short

angles and a lot more stuff. He has put a lot more [effort] into it

and those things take awhile to learn.”

That could be the reason why more players shy away from the

serve-and-volley style, but not Taylor Dent.

“I understand how difficult the [serve-and-volley] game is,”

Taylor Dent told reporters. “[Tournament officials] are slowing down

the courts, so the players have longer rallies, the balls are getting

heavier and the players just return and pass so well. It’s so

difficult to play this kind of game. I guess that’s why were seeing

so much less of it.”

Phil Dent, contacted last weekend before flying to Australia, said

he speaks with Taylor Dent frequently and watches as many matches as

he can either in person or on television.

But he prefers to let his son handle and chart his own progress.

“It’s better to be a father than a coach all the time,” Phil Dent

said.

Former ATP pro Francisco Montoya has traveled with Taylor Dent

since last March.

Taylor Dent reached the third round of last year’s Australian Open

and, if he prevails in his first two matches, four-time winner Andre

Agassi could await in the third round.

A potential victory there would add to Taylor Dent’s already

burgeoning status.

*

Newport Beach Tennis Club and the Costa Mesa Tennis Center will

each host qualifying events in men’s and women’s amateur doubles.

Players ages 19 and older will compete for berths into the club

championships during the 30th Pacific Life Open at the Indian Wells

Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, Calif., March 7-20.

Costa Mesa Tennis Center will host qualifying Jan. 29-30 while

Newport Beach Tennis Club welcomes players Feb. 5-6.

The cost is $50 per person or $100 per team.

Men’s and women’s teams whose individual ratings are no more than

4.0 will play in a best-of-three-set format with one duo from each

division advancing to the final weekend.

Event winners will receive invitations for the club championships

and a dinner, tournament credentials, tickets to each session of the

pro event March 18-20 and one complimentary hotel room for the

evenings of March 18-19.

All winners will be honored on stadium court following the men’s

singles final on March 20.

The tournament features 250 of the top-ranked men’s and women’s

players in the world.

For information or to enter, visit pacificlifeopen.com, call

Newport Beach Tennis Club at (949) 644-0050, Costa Mesa Tennis Center

at (714) 557-0211, or contact Tom Fey at (760) 200-8448.

All proceeds benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation.