TMS - MADRID

October 17, 2005

Taylor Dent

Q. I suppose the way you started, sprinkling double-faults in the early part of the match, it was always going to be quite a tough match for you in the circumstances, wasn't it?

TAYLOR DENT: Yeah. You know, Tim's a good player. He's been struggling a little bit lately. But, you know, he's always going to be tough. When you're helping him out as much as I was during the course of the match, it definitely doesn't make things any easier.

TAYLOR DENT: You know, it's a long year. You're bound to play a few rough matches here and there. I don't know, I haven't seen the stats. First-service percentage was 39%. That's not going to help too much. I think the two games he broke me in the first set, I double-faulted two times, maybe three times in one of those games. I can't remember. You know, you're going to play a bad match here and there. But Tim played good. He exposed my erraticness tonight. He deserved to go on.

TAYLOR DENT: Oh, you know, like I said, tennis, sometimes you just go up and down. It's a long year. I mean, you know, just last year, Tim had the best year of his career. He's not going to fall off that fast. Maybe he hit a little bit of a bad patch. But I'm sure he's still eager and ready. He'll be guns blazing next year.

TAYLOR DENT: I just have to get a little bit more consistent. I've played a lot of good matches this year. I just have to keep trying and keep working hard to play more of those good matches. That's it. It's just a matter of consistency.

TAYLOR DENT: Oh, yeah. No, those guys are some of my best buddies on tour. The fact that James has come where he's come from, is playing so well, it's awesome. It's great to see. Nobody deserves it more than he does. Robby is a great guy. He's so talented. It was just a matter of time before results like he's having came. They've earned everything they've got. I'm very happy for them. I hope it keeps going.

TAYLOR DENT: You know, I'd like to hope so. I'm working hard both physically and mentally to get that. You know, hopefully sooner or later it will come around my way. In the meantime, I've just got to keep working hard and not whine and complain too much.