US OPEN

August 30, 2001

Taylor Dent

TAYLOR DENT: You know, my back was a little bit sore out there, but he was playing well. I had to adjust my game a little bit. You know, but it was okay. It was no big deal. Doug Spreen fixed me up.

TAYLOR DENT: Well, Andy, I think he's Top 20 in the world right now. He has a very good chance to go far. James Blake is playing some very good tennis. He could, you know, win some more rounds definitely. But the bulk of, you know, US tennis, like you said, probably Mardy is going to be next year for sure. Ginepri, we're all going to be better next year. Hopefully, if we keep improving, we'll all do more damage next year.

TAYLOR DENT: Yeah. I mean, I thought I could do pretty well. I went out and did what I could. Just going to have to go back to the drawing board.

TAYLOR DENT: You know, it does and it doesn't. My theory is, if you want to be the best, you're going to have to beat the best. You're going to play them somewhere along the line. May as well be early or late. Doesn't really matter.

TAYLOR DENT: No. I dropped the racquet most of the times, I think. I haven't perfected that skill yet. You know, I mean, just reaction. I didn't break it, which is good. It's all right (smiling).

TAYLOR DENT: I thought I was actually pretty good out there. You know, I let out some moans after a few bad points, but I went back and played the next point as hard as I could. That's the goal. I don't think I could have played any more mentally tougher out there.

TAYLOR DENT: You know, I think he hit a ton of first serves in on those breakpoints. I wouldn't know the exact stats. I hit a lot of big returns just in the tape. I mean, if those go over, you never know what happens. I don't know how many I had.

TAYLOR DENT: I had eight, yeah. That's the way it goes. You know, Rafter was 0-for-14 before he broke Rusedski in Cincinnati. He was 1-for-15, won the match 6-4 in the third.

TAYLOR DENT: Well, because I think the general public I don't want to say is tired, but they would like to see some new American blood. Sampras, Agassi, Chang, Todd Martin, all those guys have been around for so long. They'd like to see some younger Americans do well. They're pulling for us, which is great.

TAYLOR DENT: I don't know. It could be the speed. I mean, I'm sure the crowd loves the speed out there. Mardy, Andy and I, we all hit the ball pretty big. James is smacking forehands. You know, we're all fiery personalities. We're all not scared to show emotion out there. Like you said, that could be it. I don't know. I just think they want to see some new meat out there (smiling).

TAYLOR DENT: I don't know about time-wise. It's just going to take me to become more solid on my own service games. That's the only thing that's costing me right now, is just I'm throwing away too many points on my own serve, missing volleys, stuff like that, hitting a double at a bad time.

TAYLOR DENT: You know, you can't help but admire Sampras. He's got an unbelievable serve. You know, I always liked to watch Becker. I kind of modeled my game after him, hit big from the back, big serves, coming in, volleying. I'm still striving to, you know, perfect that style of game.

TAYLOR DENT: I don't know. I'm going to see what happens. I'm probably going to go over to Asia. There's a few ATP events, maybe Tashkent.

TAYLOR DENT: You know, that's my game. My game is, you know, not to stay out there and rally with him all day. I'm going to make some, I'm going to miss some. Like I said, when I can learn to control that a little bit and just not hit them any softer, but just get a little more in, that's when I'll be making my most progress.