THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

Q. Can you just talk about how you feel at the end of a match like that? There are people who say that's the best they've seen you play in a very long time, but at the end of the day, it's a loss.
TAYLOR DENT: It's disappointing, but it's actually more frustrating than anything else because I feel like I lost that match for the same reason that I've lost 99% of my matches since, you know, for like over the past year and a half or so. My serve just really let me down today. It's a bit of a bummer, but, you know, just have to take it on the chin and keep working on it. I'm working really hard on it and hopefully I can get it to be consistent and where it needs to be for me to be winning those matches.

Q. Does it have a cumulative effect when you just have maybe that doubt, subconscious?
TAYLOR DENT: Not really, because I go out there on the match saying, "This is what I've got today, this is all I can do." So I go out there and I try and fight as hard as I can with what I have on that day.
And, you know, it is a little disappointing after the match, but am I'm not worried about it too much out there? Maybe once, you know, I'll curse myself and then get back on the job.

Q. Was that the overhead the last game?
TAYLOR DENT: Oh, no. That was a bit disappointing, but, you know, that's not what lost me the match. What lost me the match, is like I was saying, was my serve. You know, Lleyton is a great player. He played awesome. He made me pay for my lack of serving performance today.

Q. Not enough first serves?
TAYLOR DENT: Not enough first serves. Not good enough second serves, you know. The whole.

Q. In that final set, you had a pretty good service game to go up 5 4, had to come from behind and you finished that game pretty strongly. In the next one, disappeared. Why is there no consistency even from one game to the other? You can understand one set to the next, but one game to the next?
TAYLOR DENT: Yeah, I mean, this is the problem I'm kind of battling with is the consistency. I can go serve four aces one game and come out the next game, hit a couple double faults, not make any first serves and get broken.
I kind of compare it to a Junior you're hitting with and you're working on forehands where the guy can hit a couple great but a couple can hit the fence. It's just that inconsistent thing. I'm working as hard as I can to get that consistency. I'm hitting as many serves a day as my body will let me. Unfortunately for me, it's the most important shot I have to have for my game, and also the most stubborn shot, for whatever reason. I don't know why. I hardly hit any groundies, yet I'm breaking these guys on a fairly consistent basis, so go figure.

Q. Do you get a lot of people offering suggestions?
TAYLOR DENT: I've had a lot of tutelage on my serves over the years. I've tried pretty much everything there is to try. I moved the toss around. Unfortunately I can't move my feet too much because of my back situation. I have a couple of stress fractures in my back, so that's where my feet have to be. Toss here, head up, this and that, other things. And, you know, it just kind of seems like a band aid effect. I might hit 10 good serves but then I hit another 1,000 bad ones. So I pretty much came to the conclusion that I'm going to have to go out there and just make sure I'm going at the ball the right way and just keep riding.

Q. You looked like you were dead in the water in the fifth set. Lleyton played a generous game for you.
TAYLOR DENT: He felt he had to repay me. I gave him a few generous games myself (smiling).

Q. Double faults, net jumper, then you came back and served that fine game for 5 4. What are you thinking now when you sit down, leading 5 4, need the break to close it out?
TAYLOR DENT: You know, I was just thinking the same thing. There's a lot of tennis to play even for one game. I'm not really worried about breaking him too much. My main focus is to make him play as many solid balls as I can that game, and if I happen to get up, great. If not, hopefully I hold on to my serve at 5 All. I was struggling a lot on that side of the court, to the umpire's left, because the wind was coming down. Lleyton seemed to dominate a lot of the baseline points. I was just trying to hit the ball a little bit firmer and get it through the court quicker.

Q. You seem to be in better shape than in Indianapolis?
TAYLOR DENT: Oh, yes, well, Indianapolis, Indianapolis.

Q. What's happened since then?
TAYLOR DENT: You know, just going about my business, doing my stuff. Keep training, keep doing what I'm doing.

Q. Training where?
TAYLOR DENT: Well, I spent a week and a half, actually, down in Sarasota at the IMG Bollettieri Academy. It was great. I really enjoyed it.

Q. Can you talk about the crowd. They obviously wanted to see another American win after James and Robby. Did that help you on a little bit? How much more of an impact did that make?
TAYLOR DENT: The crowd out here is unbelievably inspirational for me. I can't speak for any of the other players, but, you know, it's just it gives you that extra little fight. Just you want to do so well for them out there, not only yourself, that it really pushes you hard even if you're not playing great tennis. You just want to dig down and try and just hang in there however you can. You know, so it was unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Q. Have you played for a crowd like that before?
TAYLOR DENT: You know, I've been cheered on. But the crowd today was really behind me, and that was that was like kind of crossing a boundary for me. You know, before I've played big center court matches where the crowd has been surprised I've been there and surprised that I play so well, you know, on that given match. But today I felt like they were actually behind me. They were cheering at big stages of the match for me and it really felt awesome.

Q. You've had some great wins in Slams, but you've always had some injuries and some really tough draws and also some tough losses. In your gut, do you think you'll be able to make it to the final weekend of a Slam?
TAYLOR DENT: I don't know. You know, I can't really say that. I hope so. I'm working to. I honestly believe that if I solve my serving problem that I've been having, then I don't I can't see a reason why not. If I can hold serve like the best guys in the world can, I don't see why I shouldn't be there.

Q. You use the word "stubborn." Talk to me about that. It doesn't kick in, just drives you crazy? Talk about the inability to get a real consistent.
TAYLOR DENT: Yeah, it's definitely frustrating, you know. But I can't make it get better. I can't just say, "Okay, do it." You know? I have to go out there and work on it. I'm not one to, you know, moan and whine about it, you know, I want to go out there and fix it. So it is frustrating, but, you know, matches like these just encourage me to stay out there a little bit longer and hit a few more serves.

Q. Billie Jean said there should be such a thing in tennis as a serve coach. Do you think you'll go looking for some instruction from somebody like that?
TAYLOR DENT: Kind of like I said, I've seen a few people for my serve, and, you know, they pretty much say the same things and none of it's really worked. I seem to end up coming out serving worse than when I went in there.
So, unfortunately everything else in my game, my volleys, my groundies, has improved by leaps and bounds by me just staying out there and just getting a groove, just hitting it over and over and over again. That's kind of the unfortunately the approach I'm going to have to take with my serve. That's the way it's been going. I've had some great serving matches, some great serving sets. I feel like it's pretty close. It's not very close, but it's almost there.

Q. One of your most important weapons today, the half volley. For a couple sets, you had some pretty high quality half volleying out there. Then it went off. Was that a result of the serve going off or maybe getting tired, getting down on the ball?
TAYLOR DENT: Well, when you have to do, you know when you have to play those extremely high difficulty shots, half volleys and volleys below the net, when you've got a guy who's fast and passing you all the time, I mean, it's just too tough to keep doing it over and over and over. I think there was only like really one game where, you know, my volleys let me down. Maybe in the fourth set, I can't really quite remember.
But other than that, it's just, you know, I'm hitting these serves and Lleyton is hitting returns that are close to the sidelines and hitting the service line. So if anybody can hit those for good shots, then they're too good, too good for me.

Q. Is he the hardest person for you to play with as a serve and volleyer?
TAYLOR DENT: Yeah, there's a few of them: him, Agassi. Nalbandian's tough for me. I mean, but you know what the bottom line is, is if they're getting on to my serve, all these guys return well, so well these days, that pretty much anybody's tough for me to play.

Q. Was there a residual effect for you on coming out a day after James and Robby have played and won? Does that enter into your mindset at all?
TAYLOR DENT: I mean, I pretty much take the approach that anything out of my control, I don't really pay too much attention to or worry about too much. You know, if James and Mardy win, you know, I'm very happy for them, very excited, you know. They deserve it. They're working very hard. If they lose, I'm very sorry. But, again, it's out of my control, so I stay numb to their results because that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to try and do as well as I can. I feel like if I expose myself to outside influences that I can't control and get emotionally attached to those, then it's just kind of leaving me very exposed.

Q. The stress fracture, is rest the only thing that will get rid of those?
TAYLOR DENT: They'll be there. It's not an uncommon thing. It inhibits me serving certain ways. It's fine. I've been serving this way for years now, and my back has never bothered me. But it has to stay this way, and, you know, I've served great this way. I've served awesome matches this way.

Q. That's not the problem?
TAYLOR DENT: No, that's definitely not the problem.

Q. Are you more encouraged or discouraged by a result like this?
TAYLOR DENT: Believe it or not, I'm encouraged with the fact that it's not something else that let me down. It's not another thing about my tennis that I have to worry about. It's still just the serve, you know. So if it was something else, you know, if I went out there and was missing volley after volley after volley, you know I actually did miss a few too many forehands today, but I still broke him plenty of times to win the matches, I think. But, yeah, if it was something else, then it would be a little more frustrating. But since I've got a beat on what it is, I'm okay with it.

Q. Do you look at a tape of your matches to see if you can slow mo and break down where the serve's gone, location of the toss?
TAYLOR DENT: Yeah, I've gone over all that stuff and I feel like I come out worse than when I went in. So I got away from that.

Q. What is a serve and volleyer who's not serving well?
TAYLOR DENT: A volleyer, I guess, I don't know (smiling). Yeah, I don't know. There's different ways to serve well. You see Rafter and Edberg, they served well by, you know, spreading the court out and hitting their spots with a lot of spin. And, obviously, Sampras, Ivanisevic just hit their spots hard.
So the biggest thing is accuracy and consistency.

Q. It seemed like you were taking some off your serve and just trying to place it.
TAYLOR DENT: Yeah, I was trying to, you know I mean, again, I don't know what the right thing to do is, but I know for a fact that I wasn't serving a great percentage out there. I was just trying to put a little bit more spin on the ball and get a little more accuracy.

Q. What's your assessment of Hewitt's chances against Federer should he get to that, and just how you thought he was playing compared to Wimbledon?
TAYLOR DENT: He's playing very well. I mean, he made me pay for everything that I did poorly today, and that is, you know, what Hewitt does. So he didn't in the fourth set, he didn't give me anything. He was playing great. In the beginning of the match, he got to a 5 Love lead. I just thought, "Wow, this is gonna be a quick one." So, yeah, he's playing very well. Those guys offer a different style than I do, so I don't know how he's going to play when somebody's staying back a lot more and hitting big, big groundies. But, you know, he comes up against another serve and volleyer, they're in trouble (smiling).

Q. You reportedly have gotten a place in Sarasota.
TAYLOR DENT: I made an offer. Not quite there yet. Not quite there yet, but yeah.

Q. My question is, so what's the deal with California? Are you still going to hang out there? Is that going to be past history?
TAYLOR DENT: No, I'd like to move back out there after my tennis, but I just feel that there aren't enough high level players out there at, you know, top pro players out there to really play and work with. And I don't have the facilities kind of at my disposal. Whereas down in Bollettieri's, everything's right there. It's kind of like a kid in a candy shop. I love doing the stuff. If it's convenient and easy, you can't get me out of those places. But when I'm in southern Cal, I kind of have to work to get there a little bit and I roll the eyes.

Q. Do you feel like you took a step forward mentally hanging in against a person that's very difficult to keep hanging in sometimes?
TAYLOR DENT: That's kind of how I play. I mean, I try and fight, you know, to the bitter end every time. Sometimes my game doesn't let me because I play a very fast style, fast paced game. But, you know, that's just how I was brought up, you know. You just keep fighting, you never know what happens. So, yeah, it was definitely encouraging, but hopefully in the future, I get certain things buttoned down and, you know, hopefully walk away with a win next time.

Q. Are you part of a vanishing race, the serve and volleyers?
TAYLOR DENT: I've actually been talking about this with Eliot Teltscher, I think that it's going to come full circle because guys are serving so big these days that I think guys are going to start blocking the returns more. You know, you see Federer do it every so often. Hewitt does it every so often. I mean, you have to against these big servers. So then the advantage is going to be taking those blocked returns out of the air. Mark my words, Bud.

Q. I hope you're right.
TAYLOR DENT: (Laughing).

Q. Dad give you any thoughts on today?
TAYLOR DENT: I haven't had a chance to speak to my dad, but I'm sure that he will offer me plenty of advice (smiling).

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