Philip Clive Dent (born 14 February 1950) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. Dent's high water mark as a pro singles player was reaching the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

final in 1974, which he lost to

Jimmy Connors James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 ...

in four sets. Dent was also the men's doubles champion at the

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

(with teammate John Alexander), and the mixed-doubles champion at the US Open in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

(with teammate

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States ...

Tennis career

As well as his victory in the 1975 Australian Open doubles, Dent reached six more men's doubles finals in Grand Slam Tournaments, finishing runner-up at the Australian Open in 1970, 1973, and 1977, the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

in 1975 and 1979 and

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

in 1977. Dent was a member of the Australian tennis teams that won the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

in 1977 and the

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

in 1979. Before turning professional, Dent won the boys' singles titles at both the Australian Open tournament and at the French Open in 1968. During his professional career, Dent won three top-level singles titles (in Sydney and in Brisbane, Australia, both in 1979, and the former also in 1971) and 25 doubles titles (also winning the 1968 Australian Hard Courts singles event in Launceston). His career-high singles ranking was world No. 12 (in 1977). Dent retired from professional tennis in 1983. Since retiring as a player, Dent has settled in

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...

.Phil Dent Goes on Emotional Ride With Son - latimes
Retrieved 23 December 2016. Dent was married to

Betty Ann Grubb Stuart Betty Ann Grubb Stuart (born February 26, 1950) is a retired American professional tennis player. She had her most significant success in doubles, including reaching the final of the 1977 US Open with Renée Richards as her partner. Personal l ...

and their son,

Taylor Dent Taylor Phillip Dent (born April 24, 1981) is a retired professional tennis player from the United States. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21, winning 4 singles titles. Career Early career and back injury Dent won ATP tit ...

was also a professional tennis player and citizen of the United States. Dent defeated

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...

in the third round of the 1974 Australian Open, the only Australian Open in which he competed.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Mixed doubles: 1 (1 title)

Grand Slam performance timeline

Singles

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

Career finals

Doubles (25 titles, 25 runner-ups)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dent, Phil 1950 births Living people Australian emigrants to the United States Australian male tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions French Open junior champions People from Newport Beach, California Tennis players from Sydney US Open (tennis) champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles