Taylor Dent chases a volley from Marcos Daniel during Monday's action at the Newport Casino.

Journal photo / Glenn Osmundson

NEWPORT — "It doesn't matter where you've been or where people think you can go. It matters where you are now and where you want to be and the steps to achieve that."

That's how Taylor Dent looks at life these days. It's a realization he's come to after battling a debilitating back injury that once threatened his tennis career.

He says that mentality has guided him along the comeback trail, and he hopes it will one day allow him to position himself with the likes of Roger Federer and Andy Roddick.

"I can't honestly think of a reason why it's not possible," said the 28-year-old native of Newport Beach, Calif., who posted a first-round victory over Marcos Daniel of Brazil this week at the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships. "I know there are a lot of opinions why that's not possible, but those are just opinions. There's no real factual reason why I can't get out there and compete for some big titles. And that's what I want."

Dent, the son of former Australian tennis great Phil Dent, knew his back condition wasn't good just a year after turning pro in 1998. The last vertebrae at the bottom of his spine was broken on both sides, he was told.

"It was just from tennis. Overuse," he said. "The left side they think fractured when I was probably like 10 or 11, when I started playing tennis, and then the right side fractured, they think, when I was 17 or 18. To have one side fractured is not super uncommon, but to have both sides is pretty uncommon."

Dent was told he had two options: Receive cortisone injections and continue playing or undergo an operation to have the vertebrae fused, which at the time would have meant the end of his tennis career.

Just 19 years old and at the beginning of his professional career, Dent opted for the injections. He continued playing that way for the next several years, climbing as high as 21st in the rankings and posting four career singles titles, including one here in 2002.

But Dent's back injury flared up again in 2006. With the cortisone injections losing their effectiveness, he spent nine months undergoing intense physical therapy and working out for two to three hours a day in an attempt to strengthen his back and abdominal muscles.

When he saw "no improvement whatsoever," Dent says he "pretty much gave up mentally" on his playing career. He tried his hand at commentating and coaching, neither of which entirely filled the void created by no longer being able to compete.

Then Dent's back worsened to the point, he says, where it was no longer a question of whether he would be able to play tennis again, but rather whether he would even be able to get out of bed every day.

Left with little choice at that point, he underwent a new medical procedure in March 2007 to try to mend the fractured vertebrae. iBut after spending eight to nine months essentially bedridden in a three-quarter body cast, Dent learned that the vertebrae had already deteriorated too much for the procedure to work.

In September 2007, he went under the knife again, this time undergoing an improved fusion procedure. That surgery was successful, but a long, painful road to recovery still lay ahead of him.

With the support of his family –– including his wife, former WTA tennis pro Jennifer Hopkins –– Dent has worked his way back, though. After competing in a tournament every couple of months in 2008 just to measure his progress, Dent has changed his focus this year. Now it's not just about trying to finish a match, it's about trying to win again, he says.

And his approach when he takes on the winner of Wednesday's match between two-time defending champion Fabrice Santoro and Flavio Cipolla in the next round? The same words he's been telling himself for the last year and a half will undoubtedly be echoing in his head: "I just have to put the work in and stay focused, stay diligent. Don't look too far ahead and don't look too far back."

cthorn@projo.com