Jared Donaldson’s visit to the ‘serve doctor’ still paying off at the U.S. Open

Father and son met father and son on a tennis court one day in Orange County.

The question: How much “surgery” was required for the youngster’s serve? Jared Donaldson had recently turned 17 and his father, Courtney Donaldson, brought him to see Phil Dent and his son Taylor Dent.

This made sense because the Dents were widely respected for their serving ability on the pro tour. In fact, Taylor Dent, 35, still holds the Wimbledon record for the fastest serve recorded at the tournament, hitting one 148 mph in 2010. And Phil Dent, 66, is known as the “serve doctor.”

“We walked out on the court,” Courtney said. “[Taylor] introduced me to his father. They watched Jared serve twice and Phil goes, ‘Hmm.’ I go, ‘What does ‘hmm’ mean?’ I’m thinking Jared needs to add more spin to his serve. He said, ‘We’ve got to change everything.’”

Courtney Donaldson was retelling the anecdote to a couple of reporters on the grounds at the U.S. Open on a sun-splashed Friday afternoon. It was one day after Jared, who came through qualifying, had reached the third round of the U.S. Open.

The result means Donaldson, now 19 and ranked 122nd in the world, will break into the top 100 after the Open, according to the ATP.

Top-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who had a walkover in the second round, had a short day, taking a 4-2 lead in the first set when his opponent, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, retired from their third-round match because of a strained left hamstring.

One of the best comebacks of the tournament was the escape staged Friday by eighth-seeded Madison Keys. She was down 5-1 in the third set and came within two points of losing before prevailing, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (3), against Naomi Osaka of Japan, in the third round.

There are two American men left in the draw — Jack Sock, who stunned the No. 7 seed, 2014 U.S. Open champion Marin Cilicof Croatia, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, in the third round on Friday, and Donaldson, who will face Ivo Karlovic of Croatia on Court 17 on Saturday in the third round.

The story of his visit nearly three years ago to Phil Dent — the serve doctor — illustrated the Donaldsons’ distinctive approach to the sport, the twisting path of the Rhode Island-born-and-raised Jared. The family brought him to Argentina when he was 14 to steep him in the principles of clay-court tennis and later didn’t waver a bit when the Dents advocated a complete overhaul of Jared’s serve.

“We had to do it. He had just turned 17 and better to do it at 17 than 21, or never,” Courtney said.

Following that, Jared moved to Irvine and started working with the Dents at their tennis academy in Fountain Valley. Taylor Dent, who is with the Donaldsons in New York, admired Jared’s ability to recognize long-term benefits versus short-term results.

“I looked at Jared’s serve,” Dent said. “My strength in coaching is not changing technique. I don’t enjoy it. It is not fun for me. That is my dad’s passion. That’s why we make such a good team.

“Dad really spent a ton of time, and Jared, for being a teenage boy, it’s tough to make big changes like that and, wow, he did a really, really good job. He was very patient and smart. He knew it had to happen.”

Taylor Dent reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and came close to breaking into the top 20, reaching a career-high ranking of 21 in 2005.

“I’m very happy that he beat [David] Goffin. I’m very happy he beat [Viktor] Troicki,” Dent said of Donaldson’s path in New York. “Even if he would have lost those matches, we’re still coming out the next day, the next week and we are improving. Whether he wins this tournament or loses next round . . . this is a long journey.”

Donaldson reached the third round at the Masters Series event in Toronto in July before losing to Milos Raonic of Canada. He will turn 20 in October and has been one of the lesser-publicized members of generation next on the tour.

“Maybe a lot of other guys haven’t seen how I play so much, they don’t have as much experience against me,” Donaldson said Thursday. “The first two guys I played, they’re established pros.

“I’ve been able to kind of go in there with an understanding of their game where maybe they haven’t come in with an understanding of my game because they haven’t seen me or played me that much.

“That’s kind of what young players bring to the table in terms of playing more experienced players. . . . Obviously once they kind of see what’s going on, it’s kind of a dogfight from there.”

For Donaldson, the biggest stage before the Open was the main show court in a night match against Wimbledon finalist Raonic in Toronto. Donaldson won five games but used lessons from that match as a springboard for the summer.

“It was like he went out into a prize fight and got a punch,” Courtney said. “George [Foreman] hit Muhammad Ali with a shot and he [Ali] said, ‘Is that all you got, George?’ . . . That’s kind of what it was like.

“Wow, this is a different sport . . . top-10 tennis.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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