For Tennis Parents by a Tennis Parent

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Welcome to Season 9, Episode 8, of the ParentingAces Podcast! You are in for a treat this week as we chat with the Dent family: Phil, Taylor, and Jenny!

Taylor Dent, formerly ranked #21 on the ATP Tour, is a past guest on our podcast. He has coached several top players since retiring from professional tennis, and is now running a very successful program in Texas alongside his father and wife.

In this week’s episode, all 3 Dents share their coaching philosophy in terms of both on-court and off-court work, and their commitment to producing not only great tennis players but also great humans. 

I first met Taylor at the US Open several years ago when he was working with Jared Donaldson. I couldn’t help but be impressed with his no-nonsense approach to sport and his humility when talking about his own accomplishments. 

A few months ago, the director of The Birch Racquet and Lawn Club reached out to me asking if I’d like to interview Taylor, Phil, and Jenny. Of course, I said YES! 

In case you aren’t familiar with this very impressive family, here are some facts taken from their academy website:

Taylor

• Formerly Ranked #21 in the world
• Served 149mph at the French Open, 148mph at Wimbledon and 147mph at the US Open — all in 2010, and all serve speed records at these Grand Slams
• Won 4 ATP singles titles in Newport (2002), Bangkok (2003), Memphis (2003) and Moscow (2003)
• Coached Jared Donaldson (2013-2017) to the top 100 in the world and 2016 US Open 3rd rd
• Placed 4th in the 2004 Olympics in Athens
• Captured wins over Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin during his ATP career
• Recorded in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Taylor and Phil are the only father-son duo to have won ATP titles in the Open Era

Phil

• Known as the Serve Doctor throughout the ATP and WTA tours
• Reached #12 in the world in 1977, finishing the year at #19
• Coached Michael Chang and Maria Sharapova
• Doubles Grand Slam Champion at both the US and Australian Open
• Claimed mixed-doubles champion at the US Open in 1976 (with teammate Billie Jean King)
• Captured wins over Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors during professional tennis career
• Helped lead his native country of Australia to victories at both the Davis Cup in 1977 and the World Team Cup in 1979

Jenny

• Reached #52 in the WTA world rankings
• Competed on the WTA tour for 7 years and accumulated 6 International Tennis Federation Women’s Singles titles
• Won the 2005 World Team Tennis Championships with Martina Hingis as her doubles partner
• Competed against Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati during her professional tennis career
• Captured The Missouri State Tennis Title in 1996
• Mother of 4 children and CEO of the Birch Racquet and Lawn Club 

For more information the Dent Tennis Academy in Keller, Texas, click here. You can reach out to Jenny by email at [email protected]. 

As always, a big thank you to Morgan Stone, aka STØNE, for our NEW intro and outro music this season. You can find more of his music at SoundCloud.com/stonemuzic. If you’re interested in House Music, please be sure to check out his social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. 

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