Taylor
Dent Interview
Wimbledon
2010
Q. I understand
you're a father; is that right?
TAYLOR DENT: Yes, that's right. Five month old father.
Q. I just want to ask about that and what it's like to
be a father and play tennis and the routines and how you
do it.
TAYLOR DENT: Well, right now, it's easy on me. You know,
or hard on me, I should say. They're back in Kansas City
where Jenny's from. She's got Declan with her and her
mom.
So this trip's been hard. We were planning on having
Declan and Jenny come right up until the very last second
because his sleep patterns just weren't really great and
we thought it was gonna be a long trip.
So it's been hard, but it worked out well. I'm excited
for the U.S. summer circuit, because I'm making 'em come
every week.
Q. We'll see how long that lasts. There's no baby
ambien?
TAYLOR DENT: No, no. We can't do that.
Q. So you can manage that, you think, be on the road
and be with family? You think that'll enhance your tennis
somehow?
TAYLOR DENT: I mean, it's not gonna hurt it. I'm too
mature, I'm too hungry to want to win to let it
negatively affect me. I'm gonna do my training as always
and I'm gonna focus on my tennis as always.
Hopefully it will a nice compliment to, you know, just
the mental drain it is being out here.
Q. So you did not go back home in between Roland
Garros, right?
TAYLOR DENT: Nope, I did not go.
Q. That's a long stint though, huh?
TAYLOR DENT: It's the longest one that I haven't actually
even been with Jenny. So it is what it is. We had this
understanding before we had Declan. We knew this was
gonna be a part of it.
Hopefully I can start improving my results so it's gonna
be easier and easier for them to travel.
Q. You kind of wishing you had the Roger money now?
TAYLOR DENT: Who wouldn't?
Q. So you want to talk about today's match?
TAYLOR DENT: Today's match was good. You know, I didn't
serve as well as I had in the qualifying, coming through
the qualifying rounds. In the qualifying, I was very high
percentage of first serves and my accuracy was very good.
I was getting a ton of free points, and that wasn't the
case today.
So in turn, that puts a lot pressure on my groundies
tease. Thankfully I had a decent day with my groundies.
In the first set, Chela was kind of rolling the ball
around and not really doing too much, and he allowing me
to step up and dictate and do everything I wanted to do.
Then after that, it was a little bit more touch and go.
He was lacing the balls left and right. So it was a solid
performance. It was good.
Q. That's the type of match you go in and think, Okay,
he's a clay-court-born player. He's a veteran. This is
the kind of match that even though he can play, that I
should win if I play on my terms.
TAYLOR DENT: Oh, absolutely. You know, it's a good draw.
Like I always say, though, unfortunately right now I'm
not good enough to worry about good and bad draws.
So that's kind of where I'm at. I don't care who I play.
I'm my own biggest enemy out there right now. That's
becoming less and less of an issue as times goes on. It's
a good matchup for me on grass.
Again, like I said, he's a great player. I have to go out
there and play a high-quality match or I'm gonna come off
losing.
Q. But winning four matches in a row including
quallies is a good thing.
TAYLOR DENT: Yeah, it's a good thing. It's not gonna hurt
the confidence, that's for sure. You know, you just got
to keep it going. My goal is to go deep in these
tournaments and to beat good players like Chela
consistently.
So that's -- it might be now. You know, I've made some
slight adjustments to my game. I've been tinkering a bit
and working really hard. So I think it can happen any
week. It might be this week; might not be this week. But,
you know, I'm working towards it.
Q. So on grass, shouldn't it be a little more
straightforward with your game? You pretty much go out
there and say, I should be able to hold, I should be able
to attack, chip, charge, get in. This is grass. I don't
have to do too many things different if I'm on the ball,
right?
TAYLOR DENT: It enhances what I do well more so than a
lot of other surfaces. I think obviously the hardcourts
at US Open do my game the most justice.
But out here, yeah, I'm gonna take my cuts at the ball
and try and hit some big approach shots and get to the
net and knock off a volley. Sure, it helps my serve.
But, um, like I said, I still have to go out there and
execute at a high level, otherwise it's not worth
mentioning.
Q. Is the summer goal to not have to qualify for the
US Open?
TAYLOR DENT: Sure, that's the goal for this tournament.
No, of course that's always the goal, to move up the
rankings. But, you know, for me, if you start putting too
much pressure on results, it just -- there's enough
pressure as it is.
I try and eliminate those kind of thoughts and I put my
emphasis on my game. I need to get more solid from the
baseline. I need to get more consistent with my serve. I
need to get more consistent with my returns.
You know, one leads to another. If I just focus on that,
then the ranking and the results will take care of
itself.
Q. You're not playing doubles, right? You rarely play
doubles.
TAYLOR DENT: No. I generally don't play doubles in the
slams; I generally don't play doubles at all. It's not
that I have anything against doubles, I'm not very good,
to be honest with you.
Q. You have elements in your game where you would
think that...
TAYLOR DENT: Doubles is such a returners' game, though.
Q. Serve helps, though?
TAYLOR DENT: No, no, serve does help. Absolutely. And
that is something that I bring to the table. But I feel
like there is so much emphasis on returning well and
returning well consistently.
My returns are just based on a singles match. I like to
make sure I get in the points, and you can't get away
with chipping in doubles.
Q. The Bryan brothers can't give you pointers?
TAYLOR DENT: They're gonna tell me to make more returns.
That's about it.
Q. I think you mentioned a couple Grand Slams back -
was it in Australia? Maybe it was France - where you were
beginning to doubt your serve and volley game.
TAYLOR DENT: Oh, well, for sure. There were times before
I got hurt when I was 21 in the world saying -- you know,
the tours or the style of tennis is just working against
me here. Technology is working against me.
At the time, I didn't have the confidence to pull the
trigger and say, I'm gonna serve and volley less.
Q. Do you have that confidence now?
TAYLOR DENT: Oh, yeah, well, I'm working on it. It's a
day to day thing. Right now I feel like I'm serving and
volleying off my first serve I would say 70% of the time,
80%.
Q. Is that too much?
TAYLOR DENT: Well, it depends on what kind of game you're
talking about. If I'm Roger Federer, then yeah, it's too
much. If I have a forehand like that, if I'm Rafael Nadal
and I've got a forehand like that, then absolutely it's
too much.
But if you're talking about me where my groundstrokes are
improving, you know, tremendously, I feel, you know, but
they're still a little bit shaky here and there, then
it's not too much. I need the cheap points.
Q. So you're not really dialing back on the amount of
net rushing and attacking?
TAYLOR DENT: I am trying to get to the point every point,
but I'm trying to do it in a different way. Instead of
purely serve and volley or purely chip and charge, I'm
trying to take that first short ball, hammer it, and see
if I do damage, sneak in maybe, or wait one more ball and
hammer that and wait and come in.
Actually, I was just thinking about it today. Who I'm
trying to play like is Phillippousiss more so than
anything else now. I'm trying to hit big serves, first
serves and second, rip the first ball and come in and
knock off a volley. I think that's what my game has
evolved to now.
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