FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — To think Taylor Dent was THIS close to applying for his real estate license. Having undergone three agonizing rounds of back surgery, the Southern Californian had been confined to a body cast and, for weeks at a time, spent as much as 23 hours a day in bed. Experts said he’d be better off getting fitted for a wheelchair than think about resurrecting his career in professional tennis.
Good thing he ignored their advice. The housing market tanked and, as it turns out, he still had some tennis left in him after all.
“I was laying in bed doing nothing,” said the 28-year-old, once the No. 3-ranked American behind Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi. “Then I’d start feeling sorry for myself. I hate that. I can’t stand hearing that and saying that to myself.”
On Friday, two days after pushing aside Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3, 7-5, the big, lumbering 6-foot-2 serve-and-volleyer moved into the third round of the U.S. Open with a thrilling five-set 6-4, 5-7, 6-7(1), 7-5, 7-6(9) win over the No. 119-ranked Ivan Navarro of Spain, erasing a two-sets-to-one deficit to prevail in four hours, 12 minutes.
You didn’t think he’d gone through all those hours/months/years of rehab for one token first-round win, did you?
After the match, a delirious Dent unorthodoxly grabbed the chair ump’s microphone and addressed the fans, declaring, “I just want to say you guys are unbelievable! I love it here!” He then ceremoniously circled the Grandstand court, high-fiving his vocal supporters along the way. He said he felt he had to thank them in some way, calling them — insert irony here — his “backbone.”
“You can’t even imagine these moments when I was back lying in bed,” said Dent. “I would think of matches and kind of reminisce a little bit. But just experiencing it and living it now is more than I hoped for back then.”
Those who thought Dent was the last serve-and-volleyer on Planet Earth were surprised when Navarro took the court. The talented 27-year-old Spaniard is a capable net-rusher himself, as Dent will attest to (so adept a volleyer was Navarro that Dent said he felt like “kicking him on the changeovers”). Dent – who in addition to registering an astounding 121 winners was clocked on his serve as high as 147 mph — let set-points slip away in both the second and third sets, but made up for it in the telltale fifth-set tiebreak. He fell behind 5-3, but refused to yield. Dent failed to capitalize on his first three match-point opportunities, until, deadlocked at 9-9, he came up with a timely ace, one of 20 on the night. Then, on match point No. 4 at 10-9, amid rhythmic chants of “DENT! DENT! DENT!” he smacked a Navarro offering down the line for a backhand return-of-serve winner.
“The crowd just never stopped,” said Dent. “They were just with me the whole time. When I started to turn it around, the emotions just boil over here. The U.S. Open is such a unique experience for a tennis player. It’s really unbelievable that I have the privilege to experience it.”
Dent is surely in for a stiffer test in the third round, when he faces world No. 2 Andy Murray, who earlier in the day defeated Chilean Paul Capdeville 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2. The Scot owns a 2-0 career advantage.
