Phil Dent

Philip Clive "Phil" Dent (born 14 February 1950), is a former professional tennis player. Dent's high water mark as a pro singles player was reaching the Australian Open final in 1974, which he lost to Jimmy Connors in four sets. Dent was also the Men's Doubles champion at the Australian Open in 1975 (with teammate John Alexander), and the Mixed Doubles champion at the US Open in 1976 (with teammate Billie Jean King).

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 in 1975 and 1979 and Wimbledon in 1977. Dent was a member of the Australian tennis teams that won the Davis Cup in 1977 and the World Team Cup in 1979.

Before turning professional, Dent won the Boy's Singles titles at both the Australian Open tournament and at the French Open in 1968.

During his professional career, Dent won 3 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 Orange County, California. His son, Taylor Dent, is also a professional tennis player and citizen of the United States.

Dent defeated Björn Borg in the third round of the Australian Open in 1974, which was the only time that Borg chose to journey all the way to Australia, during wintertime in his native Sweden, to play in the Australian Open.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Opponent in final	Score in final
Runner-up	1974	Australian Open	Jimmy Connors	7–6(9–7), 6–4, 4–6, 6–3

Mixed doubles (1 title)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Winner	1976	US Open	Billie Jean King	Frew McMillan Betty Stöve	3–6, 6–2, 7–5

Doubles titles (25)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	1970	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	John Alexander	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	3–6, 6–8, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	1970	Hilversum, Netherlands	Hard	John Alexander	Bill Bowrey Owen Davidson	3–6, 4–6, 2–6
Winner	1.	1970	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	John Alexander	Željko Franulović Jan Kodeš	10–8, 6–2, 6–4
Winner	2.	1971	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Hard	John Alexander	Mal Anderson Alex Metreveli	6–7, 2–6, 6–3, 7–6, 7–6
Winner	3.	1971	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	John Alexander	John Newcombe Tom Okker	5–7, 6–3, 6–4
Winner	4.	1971	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Frank Froehling Clark Graebner	7–6, 6–4
Runner-up	3.	1971	Vancouver WCT, Canada		John Alexander	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	7–5, 7–6, 0–6, 5–7, 6–7
Runner-up	4.	1972	St. Louis WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	John Newcombe Tony Roche	6–7, 2–6
Winner	5.	1972	Louisville WCT, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Arthur Ashe Robert Lutz	6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	5.	1973	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	John Alexander	Mal Anderson John Newcombe	3–6, 4–6, 6–7
Winner	6.	1973	Toronto WCT, Canada	Carpet	John Alexander	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	6.	1973	Brussels WCT, Belgium	Carpet	John Alexander	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	4–6, 6–7
Winner	7.	1973	Cincinnati, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	1–6, 7–6, 7–6
Runner-up	7.	1974	Richmond WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Nikola Pilić Allan Stone	3–6, 6–3, 6–7
Winner	8.	1974	Miami WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	4–6, 6–4, 7–5
Winner	9.	1974	Monte Carlo WCT, Monaco	Clay	John Alexander	Manuel Orantes Tony Roche	7–6, 4–6, 7–6, 6–3
Winner	10.	1975	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	John Alexander	Bob Carmichael Allan Stone	6–3, 7–6
Runner-up	8.	1975	Fort Worth WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	7–6, 6–7, 3–6
Winner	11.	1975	San Antonio WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Mark Cox Cliff Drysdale	7–6, 4–6, 6–4
Runner-up	9.	1975	Tokyo Indoor, Japan	Carpet	John Alexander	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	4–6, 7–6, 2–6
Winner	12.	1975	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Bob Carmichael Cliff Drysdale	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	10.	1975	French Open, Paris	Clay	John Alexander	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	4–6, 6–2, 2–6, 4–6
Winner	13.	1975	Chicago, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Mike Cahill John Whitlinger	6–3, 6–4
Winner	14.	1975	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Cliff Drysdale	Marcello Lara Joaquin Loyo-Mayo	7–6, 6–4
Runner-up	11.	1975	North Conway, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Haroon Rahim Erik Van Dillen	6–7, 6–7
Winner	15.	1976	Atlanta WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Wojtek Fibak Karl Meiler	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	12.	1976	St. Louis WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	4–6, 2–6
Winner	16.	1976	Denver WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Jimmy Connors Billy Martin	6–7, 6–2, 7–5
Runner-up	13.	1976	Woodlands Doubles, Woodlands, Texas	Hard	Allan Stone	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	1–6, 4–6, 7–5, 6–7
Runner-up	14.	1977	Jackson, U.S.	Carpet	Ken Rosewall	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	2–6, 6–7
Runner-up	15.	1977	Houston WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	Ilie Năstase Adriano Panatta	3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	16.	1977	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Kim Warwick	Bob Hewitt Karl Meiler	6–3, 3–6, 4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	17.	1977	Wimbledon, London	Grass	John Alexander	Ross Case Geoff Masters	3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 9–8, 4–6
Winner	17.	1977	Cincinnati, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Bob Hewitt Roscoe Tanner	6–3, 7–6
Winner	18.	1977	Washington, D.C., U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart	7–5, 7–5
Winner	19.	1977	Louisville, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Chris Kachel Cliff Letcher	6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	18.	1977	Adelaide, Australia	Grass	John Alexander	Syd Ball Kim Warwick	6–3, 6–7, 4–6
Winner	20.	1977	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	John Alexander	Ray Ruffels Allan Stone	7–6, 2–6, 6–3
Runner-up	19.	1977	Australian Open–2, Melbourne	Grass	John Alexander	Ray Ruffels Allan Stone	6–7, 6–7
Runner-up	20.	1978	Memphis, U.S.	Carpet	John Newcombe	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	6–3, 6–7, 2–6
Winner	21.	1978	Forest Hills WCT, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart	7–6, 7–6
Winner	22.	1978	Los Angeles, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	Fred McNair Raúl Ramírez	6–3, 7–6
Winner	23.	1978	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	John Alexander	Syd Ball Allan Stone	6–3, 7–6
Winner	24.	1979	Hobart, Australia	Grass	Bob Giltinan	Ion Ţiriac Guillermo Vilas	8–6
Runner-up	18.	1979	Dayton, U.S.	Carpet	Ross Case	Cliff Drysdale Bruce Manson	6–3, 3–6, 6–7
Runner-up	19.	1979	French Open, Paris	Clay	Ross Case	Gene Mayer Sandy Mayer	4–6, 4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	23.	1979	Adelaide, Australia	Grass	John Alexander	Colin Dibley Chris Kachel	7–6, 6–7, 4–6
Runner-up	24.	1980	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Rod Frawley	John McEnroe Matt Mitchell	6–8
Winner	25.	1982	Guarujá, Brazil	Clay	Kim Warwick	Carlos Kirmayr Cássio Motta	6–7, 6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	25.	1982	Denver, U.S.	Carpet	Kim Warwick	Kevin Curren Steve Denton	4–6, 4–6

External links

• Phil Dent at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Phil Dent at the Davis Cup