MELBOURNE, Australia(AP) American Taylor Dent hates to lose, but at least this defeat solved a tricky dilemma.
His wife, former tennis pro Jennifer Hopkins, is due to have their first baby a week from Friday - or sooner.
I'll be on the phone to get flights as soon as I have a shower and get back to my hotel,'' Dent said after Thursday's second-round loss at the Australian Open to No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.She's due in a week but the doctor says she's due any second. She's right there. She's ready to go.''
Dent said they are having a boy, who they've already decided to name Declan James Phillip Dent - Declan because they like the name, and the other two after each of their fathers.
I'm not nervous at all,'' Dent said.I'm excited, I'm a little giddy about it.''
The 28-year-old is staging a comeback after three back operations starting in 2006 and the fear he'd never play tennis again. Last September he made it to the third round of the U.S. Open.
Once ranked No. 21, Dent is trying to improve his current No. 79 ranking and said thoughts of the impending birth did not distract him.
I was out there to win, I was out there to compete hard,'' he said.It just unfortunately didn't go my way tonight.''
Dent is the son of Australian Phil Dent, runner-up in the 1974 Australian Open, and Betty Ann Stuart, a former top 10 player in the United States.
He said he and his wife are as prepared as they can be to welcome their son, particularly Hopkins.
She wants to have a litter,'' he laughed.She wants to have four of them!''
A MIXED DOUBLES DREAM TEAM: If Andy Roddick isn't interested in partnering her for mixed doubles at the 2012 Olympics, Serena Williams said she has a couple of tall brothers in mind to join her.
The International Olympic Committee in December approved the return of mixed doubles to the London Games. Mixed doubles was played at several Olympics from 1900 to 1924.
I'm going to have to play a little mixed so I can get my body ready,'' she said.Hopefully I'll be chosen on the Olympic team. When that time gets closer, I'm going to play a little mixed. It'll be fun. I'll have a blast.''
Williams said she and friend Roddick have talked about partnering but if he is out, she's looking to Bob or Mike Bryan, twin brothers who are the No. 1 men's doubles team.
``Are you kidding? I would love to play with one of them,'' she said Thursday, acknowledging she'd rather have them on her side than playing against them.
And as for her sister? Venus is already in discussions with one of them, Williams revealed.
LOOKING FOR SUPPORT: Donald Young was hailed as a ``tennis phenom'' when he turned pro at age 14 in 2004.
At the end of that year, Newsweek magazine named him as an American worth watching - in the same ``Who's Next'' issue that profiled Sen. Barack Obama on its cover as a man with potential.
In 2005, Young won the Australian Open junior title. In 2007 he made it to the third round of the U.S. Open and - at 18 years, 5 months - he cracked the top 100 on the men's tour.
But Young - who lost at the Australian Open on Thursday in the second round - has had a sporadic career and is now ranked No. 195. He says greater support from his country could help him excel.
He claimed before the U.S. Open that the U.S. Tennis Association was pressuring him to drop his parents as coaches.
He said Thursday he has not been in contact with the tennis body since then.
Hopefully we can work together because I would love the support of USTA and hopefully we can come to mutual terms,'' he said.We'll see where it goes from there because obviously I feel like a lot of the great players who have come up or good ones have had the support of their country. So it would be nice to have it.''
Young lost 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-1 to former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.
I'm just focused on playing tennis and winning matches and trying to get better,'' he said.Hopefully that comes into play and works also.''