By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

JUNE 28, WIMBLEDON – Watching Taylor Dent flash in the pan every year or so is a frustrating experience for those of us who have been touting his potential for the past four years. Without question, Dent has a big-time game. Anyone who breaks the Wimbledon service speed record with a 144-mph bullet is a player to be reckoned with. In his spectacular five-set loss to Lleyton Hewitt, he showed a lot of courage, firepower and volleying prowess, but he also displayed some terrible decision-making at crunch time. Moreover, the Newport Beach resident and son of former top-10er Phil Dent is in a catch-22 situation. He says that that any time he attempts to harness his power, he gets out of rythym and plays worse. That's a gigantic problem for someone who probably wasted 20 points today by going for too much when it was completely unneccesary. Sure, he was never going to outsteady Hewitt, but at least force your oppoenent to hit a winner from an awkward position, rather than giving him a freebie by shanking a leaping backhand overhead two feet wide.

Last year, Taylor thought that his near defeat of Andre Agassi here would propel him into the top 100. It didn't. In the early spring, he hired coaching wizard Eliot Teltscher away from the USTA and parted coaching ways with Phil. If he gets his head straight, this big bull of a player could a regular on the ATP Tour. "I think game-wise, I'm there," he said. "There's not much I can't do on the court. It's just the mental part. Like today I went out there in the second and third set and relaxed a little bit. But I've been getting better fast. Each day I get better. I can go forward." Taylor added that Eliot pointed out "that I was whining a little bit too much on court. I try not to do that." Great advice, but what Eliot really needs to do is to get Taylor to think a little more on court. Who says you can't be a flamethrower and not take a few seconds to dwell on your strategy. Certainly not Pete Sampras.

LILIA TRIES TO BLOOM AGAIN
Are there grass courts specialists on the women's tour? Not exactl,y but there are women whose excellent balance, foot speed and confidence in the all-court game who fare better here than they do on other surfaces. Take former Stanford star Lilia Osterloh, who upset Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario on Tuesday. The Ohio native reached the fourth round here last year after upsetting Amanda Coetzer and is again feeling the magic of the All-England Club. Built low to the ground, a fine counterpuncher and volleyer when she finds her way to net, Osterloh should seriously challenge Conchita Martinez in round three. "I love playing here and am feeling really comfortable on the grass," Osterloh told Tennisreporters.com. "I'm confident and hitting the ball well and my forehand is working. There's a lot of pressure because I have to defend points from last year. Growing up, my dream was to play at Wimbledon. I can see the house I'm staying at from the court. It's like playing in your backyard. It's really special. Wimbledon has always been No.1 for me." One of the main reasons why Osterloh has yet to crack the top-40 is her fairly weak serve. But she has been working diligently on it with USTA coaches Ola Malmqvist and Ray Ruffels.

"I'd like to get it faster but I think everyone would, " said the 5-foot-7 Osterloh. "It's a matter of timing and fluidity and it's just coming with confidence." So many young players have gotten on top of Sanchez early at Slams only to fold when Sanchez tightens up her game and becomes a mental fortress. But Osterloh didn't gag, despite failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set. Lila broke right back and then served it out and won in straights. "I kept my composure," she said. " I'm a fighter too. I'm fighting for every chance. When I had second chance to serve for it I've been there before and not make the second serve twice. I was really hustling." Osterloh went undefeated at Stanford and won the '97 NCAA Singles Championships as a freshman. Whether she'll ever become a truly elite player remains to be seen. But she'll keep plugging. "I think I'm handling the big matches well and I've got a big game. I just have to use it."

MSG ALL BUT OUT OF THE TENNIS MASTERS CUP RUNNING
Sources tell tennisreporters.net that Madison Square Garden is all but out of the running to host the 2002 Tennis Master Cup. Apparently, MSG put in a bid somewhere between $1.5 and $2 million, far below the $4 million range that is expected. Apparently, both Florianapolis, Brazil, and Shanghai, China, put in big at the upper range. The host city will be announced next week and Shanghai is seen as the frontrunner.

BRYANS NO LONGER TRAVELING WITH DAD
Twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan of Camarillo, Calif., are no longer traveling with their father, Wayne, a former touring who with their mother, Kathy, has served as their coach throughout their entire career. The twins are traveling with new coach Craig Edwards, who Wayne once coached. They still talk to their pop daily, but Bob says that for now, it's better that he stay at home. "We've we're doing that our whole lives and it was getting a little bit stale for all of us," Bob told tennisreporters.net. "It gets tough after a while, trying to separate the parent-coach relationship. We needed someone to really ride us and sometimes we would tune him out. It's not his fault. With twins, it's even harder. One day I would be Satan and Mike would be the Angel and then vice-versa. That can lead to bad practices. You know, my dad [who also gives speeches, runs clinics and promotes events] is very concerned with sportsmanship and us being role models. Sometimes when we wouldn't play well and maybe throw a racket because that's how we felt. He would get really upset about that. But sometimes winning matches and playing well feels more important to us than being role models." Bob qualified here in singles and won a round before falling to Sjeng Schalken.

The Bros. won Queens last week and are seeded No. 15 here. Should they reach the third round, they could face No. 1s Jonas Bjorkman/Todd Woodbridge. Their aim is to be named o the U.S. Davis Cup that will face India in September, The Bryans scored a huge win over the famed Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupati/Leander Paes in Queens and say that Davis Cup captain Pat McEnroe is closely following their progress, but they are well aware of the fact that of one of them doesn't make significant strides in singles this summer, Mac won't name to the squad, because he needs one of his doubles guys to back up Andy Roddick and Jan-Michael Gambill in singles. "I feel like I am making progress in singles," Bob said. "When I'm on my game, I'm easily a top-50 player."