MELBOURNE, Australia(AP) Taylor Dent made it home from the Australian Open in time to witness the birth of his first child - and tweet about everything from his wife's large belly to her epidural and the joyous arrival of Declan Dent.
Gone are the days when childbirth was a private matter between husband and wife.
Dent, who actively updates his Twitter page, exited the Australian Open in the second-round. He hopped a flight home to California and made it with a few days to spare.
``Jenny's belly is massive!!'' he tweeted Sunday, referring to his wife, former tennis pro Jennifer Hopkins.
They rushed to the hospital the next day. And the countdown started.
We are fired up!! She is ready to do battle!'' Dent wrote, and reported several hours later that the mother-to-be was still in good spirits - for the time being.I'm ready to be the verbal punching bag when the festivities begin.''
The No. 79-ranked Dent, who was once ranked No. 21, has played his share of big tennis matches but he said observing his wife in labor was ``by far the most nervous I have ever been.''
It's awful so far,'' he tweeted very early Tuesday morning, but a couple hours later he updated to say she had the pain killing injection andthings have improved a ton!''
While still in Melbourne, Dent said that they had already decided on the name Declan James Phillip Dent - Declan because they like the name, and the two middle names after each of their fathers.
Little Declan was born later Tuesday weighing in at 8 lbs, 12 oz.
What an ordeal!! Wow! 99 percent pure agony and then pure elation in the end,'' Dent wrote.Go Jenny!!''
---=
LUCK OF THE DRAW: It's becoming a Grand Slam tradition for Victoria Azarenka to play Serena Williams - and to lose.
They met in third-round of the 2008 Australian Open, in the fourth round last year at Melbourne - where Azarenka withdrew from the match saying she had a virus - a few months later at the Wimbledon quarterfinal and again Wednesday in the quarters of this year's Australian Open.
The No. 7-seeded Azarenka got so close to ending her losing streak.
She won the first set and was leading 4-0 in the second set, when Williams came back to win the last two sets for a final score of 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
She's a strong girl. She has very powerful shots,'' Azarenka said, noting one ace in particular.You don't see many girls serving (125 mph) in the third set.''
Serena said she was ``surprised'' to win this round.
Asked what she was thinking while trailing by two breaks in the second set, Serena said she was calculating how quickly she could get a flight home.
It wasn't a champion's thought,'' Williams said.That's not what you're supposed to think. But that's what I was thinking.''
---=
WTT DOWN UNDER: ``Start Me Up'' by the Rolling Stones was blaring between service games and Pat Rafter was on the court kicking the ball with his foot.
Welcome to World Team Tennis at the Australian Open.
Co-founded by Billie Jean King, the co-ed tennis circuit is in its 35th season in the United States and debuted at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
World Team Tennis has different rules from regular tennis. It mixes younger and older players on the same doubles team and aims for a kid-friendly atmosphere with music between games.
It consists of five sets, with one set each of men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles.
It's great to see three generations out here. That's what we like,'' King said.We think it's great for our sport.''
For the Internationals, Mary Joe Fernandez coached and played along with Tracy Austin, Anders Jarryd and Thomas Muster.
The Australian team of two-time U.S. Open champion Pat Rafter, Pat Cash, Nicole Bradtke and Alicia Molik was coached by John Fitzgerald.