SAN JOSE, CALIF. — It was a close call. But Taylor Dent — who fell in straight sets to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round of the Australian Open — made it home just in time to see his wife (former WTA player Jenny Hopkins) give birth to the couple’s first child, Declan Dent.
Taylor was ready to hop a plane out of Melbourne the moment he walked off the court, but was delayed. Fortunately, the Californian arrived with a few days to spare, and his son was born on Jan. 26.
“We started to try to have a kid because we had lot of friends who had trouble conceiving,” said the 28-year-old Dent, who last year rebounded from three years’ worth of back injuries to finish inside the top 100 for the first time since ’05. “She wants four kids and it hit us that this might take a while. Thankfully, it happened quickly.”
The No. 77-ranked Dent, who reintroduced himself to the tennis world with a thrilling five-set, second-round triumph over Spaniard Ivan Navarro at the ’09 U.S. Open, moved on to the second round of the SAP Open on Monday via a 6-4, 7-6(2) win over qualifier Alex Bogomolov Jr.
“I love to know as much as I can about what I’m getting into, and I started reading about the percentage of miscarriages, and then I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ It was a relief when everything was done and the baby was born healthy and Jenny was okay. It was relief.”
Dent said it was a hard delivery, and that he was relieved to be by his wife’s side, although the whole event seemed to take more out of him than a five-setter in the Melbourne sun.
“It’s tough watching your wife go through as much pain as she’s had in her life — and she wasn’t pushing for 15-20 minutes, she was pushing for two hours,” he said. “It was a rough experience. But she recovered in three or four hours and had energy and was holding the baby. I was wiped out for two days. When it was all over, I was sweating and crying and Jenny looked up at me and said, ‘I thought I was working hard.'”
While he fully understands that it will be difficult on the family to be an absentee dad while he’s on the road, it’s what he needs to do. For now, at least. While neither Jenny nor Declan will be by his side, he’s got a good sounding board in his father, former Aussie great Phil Dent, who’ll keep him company. But he isn’t ready to call his father a coach.
“I don’t really want full time coach, just a counsel,” Taylor explained. “My dad is someone I can talk about game with. I would run ideas by Jenny or my dad and say, ‘Prove me wrong.’ Now I feel confident and comfortable to be able to win a hell of a lot of matches…I tell my dad, ‘I love having you here, but I don’t need a whole lot of instruction.’ He’s a such a good coach that he could be busting me up left and right, but I work the best with a few words and then let me run.”
SAP OPEN QUOTEBOOK
“Annoy and conquer.” — Andy Roddick on the strategy he employed to meet his eventual swimsuit model wife, Brooklyn Decker (who, by the way, graces the cover of the new Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue)
“I felt a little old, honestly.” — Pete Sampras after his 6-3, 7-6(2) loss to Fernando Verdasco in San Jose
“Roger can play a bad match here and there against Andy, but in the final of a major, the great ones really tighten it up. It was like target practice. Andy’s not offensive enough. He’s got to make it happen. You give enough forehands to Roger, he’s going to hurt you.” — Sampras on Roger Federer‘s Aussie Open triumph over Andy Murray
“Wow! 99 percent pure agony and then pure elation in the end. Go Jenny.” — Tweet from Taylor Dent after his wife, Jenny Hopkins, gave birth to son Declan Dent on Jan. 26
