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2007-11-07 14:18:06
As an outsider, it is very frustrating to see a player who, despite hard will and dedication, never gets the opportunity to fulfill his or her potential. Then imagine what it must feel like for the player. In the world of tennis, we have seen many short careers abruptly ended by injuries. For the Swedish fans, Magnus Norman is the latest example of a player who was forced to retire several years too early. Norman did, however, reach a ranking of No. 2 in the world at the age of 24, a year in which he won the prestigious Masters Series title in Rome and was a runner-up at Roland Garros.
Andreas Vinciguerra is still trying to find his way back, but at 26 years old, he doesn’t even have an ATP ranking, having been out of competitive play for the past year. The timing of the latest injury was the worst possible, as the Swede was playing really well last year and had his sights on a ranking in the Top 100 again. The last time he was part of that list was exactly four years ago, and I wonder for how much longer he will continue trying. Remember, this is the guy who broke into the Top 100 at the age of 18, and reached a career high ranking of 33 at the age of 20.
But this post was actually supposed to be about Taylor Dent, who is two months younger than Vinciguerra. The serve- and vollyer from Southern California was part of the young group of Americans born in 1981 and 1982 who started to pop up on the Tour at the beginning of this century. Apart from the clear number one Andy Roddick, Dent was by many considered to have the highest potential in this group. He did reach the top 100 at the age of 22, but constant injury problems limited the number of tournaments played.
The only years he played close to a full season were in 2003 and 2004, winning more indoor matches than anyone else in 03 including back-to-back titles during the fall in Bangkok and Moscow. A very memorable match was when he was up against Andre Agassi in the fourth round at the US Open that year. Dent played some brilliant tennis, diving for everything at the net, in this highly entertaining match-up. However, the fun ended after three sets, when Dent had to retire being down two sets to one. This was characteristic for his career. Just as he was about to play with the big boys, another injury popped up and he was sidelined for months. He played his last professional match in February 2006, just six months after reaching a career high ranking of 21.
Now, a new career begins for Dent as he has teamed up with father and former Australian Open finalist Phil Dent and founded Dent Tennis Academy. We will definitely miss his much needed style of play in today’s tennis.
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