University of Georgia Athletics
A Quick Chat With ... Walker Duncan
November 02, 2016 | Men's Tennis
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Walker Duncan made the SEC All-Freshman team last season after winning 30 matches in his first year with the Georgia men's tennis team. He's also an all-conference caliber talker, both expressive and interesting.
On Tuesday, the 6-foot-1 sophomore from Atlanta, who will be in action this weekend during the Bulldog Scramble, sat down for a (not-so) quick chat beside court No. 1 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. He talked about his favorite players, his appreciation of architecture, Richard Gasquet's one-handed backhand, the band The Band and much more.
Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Who's somebody from the older days of tennis that you enjoy watching or whose game you really admire?
Duncan: I like Marat Safin, he was a baller, an absolute baller. He didn't really care what anybody thought of him, he just played huge tennis and won big matches. He took it easy, but he was an incredible talent — I love that guy.
Also Lleyton Hewitt, that guy fights so hard. I'd say Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin, those guys are just legends.
Frierson: What do think when you look back at video of matches from the '80s, when the game was so different?
Duncan: We've got this app on our TV called Tennis Channel Plus and they have all kinds of retro and vintage and awesome long matches. Earlier this year we turned it on and it was Borg and McEnroe, and the way they were serving and volleying, hitting hook shots and slow slices and stuff.
And you turn on the TV today and with [the modern] guys it seems like a different sport, the way they're hitting the ball. Those guys were incredible.
John McEnroe was such a fun person to watch. Like Marat Safin he was kind of an oddball, eccentric, kind of like Nick Kyrgios these days, if you know his story. Those days are the golden days of tennis. It's funny, in 20 or 30 years they're going to be saying the same, probably, about what we're watching right now.
Frierson: What's something from your childhood that you really miss?
Duncan: I don't know, I kind of miss going to school, like elementary school. Stuff was pretty easy back then and there wasn't too much hard stuff going on.
I miss playing Playstation with my older brother; we had a great time doing that, playing tennis video games. We would actually play as those guys, Patrick Rafter and Michael Change and guys like that. We would play Sega Sports Tennis, that was really fun. That was a long time ago.
Frierson: What's the most creative thing you do? Or what's something creative you wish you could do?
Duncan: I wish I was good at art. I've always like drawing stuff and initially I was interested in architecture, but those guys can draw, like they could draw that building [the women's tennis offices] perfectly, to scale and everything.
I actually took this seminar class my freshman year, and was drawing and sketching architecture, and I realized that wasn't my forte. I wish I could really draw and be creative and artistic, or even make music and understand how to write music and read music. But I don't do anything creative, I play tennis.
Frierson: If you could play any other sport for Georgia what would it be?
Duncan: Basketball. It would be cool to be out there hitting 3s and being on the court making a run at the tournament. Tennis here is about as watched and popular as it gets in the tennis world, and I love the sports where there's a big fan base and the crowd is cheering you on.
Frierson: Was basketball your other sport growing up? Did you play a lot of different sports?
Duncan: I played everything, except for football — my mom didn't want me to play football because of how physical it was. And I don't really have a build for football. I played soccer, lacrosse, basketball — I just wasn't very good at it. I couldn't jump, but I could hit a forehand.
Frierson: How old were you when you really started to specialize?
Duncan: It was probably like fifth or sixth grade when I started to narrow it down and I started to get to the point where to get to a certain level you had to play year-round and you had to travel a little bit more. That was really fun.
Actually, something else from childhood that I miss is playing those first tennis tournaments and how exciting they were. You're new and winning was so fresh, I'd just never felt anything like that before. The competition was fun.
Frierson: If you could take one person's shot and incorporate it into your own game, what would it be?
Duncan: From the team or from anybody?
Frierson: Your choice.
Duncan: I would say Richard Gasquet's one-handed backhand. We were just watching him inside [the locker room] and he's incredible, what he can do. It's really pretty.
Frierson: Stan Wawrinka's might be better, but Gasquet's is prettier.
Duncan: We have that discussion a lot, we have that argument about whose is better. I think Wawrinka's might be a little better, too, but I always root for Gasquet.
Frierson: What do you do in the quiet time, away from tennis?
Duncan: I like to read a little bit and I like to study — I don't like to study but I do study. Hobby-wise, I really like to fish, fishing is fun.
Frierson: We've got to get you and [Georgia all-time great] John Isner out there together.
Duncan: Apparently he's a big ole fisherman, the Bass Pro Shops sponsorship and everything. That would be pretty cool.
Frierson: In the history of tennis sponsorships, the first time you saw his Bass Pro Shops logo on his hat, it was an interesting look. It fits the man, though, because he loves to fish.
Duncan: It was probably a first.
Frierson: Who is somebody on the team, or any other Georgia athlete that you know, that you've come to really admire?
Duncan: I would say Nick Wood [a teammate last season and now a volunteer assistant coach]. I admire the heck out of Nick. He's a hard worker, he's smart, he works his butt off; I live with him now and I'm lucky enough to hopefully be a longtime friend of his. He's taught me so much, and he's now one of our coaches and it's great to get to talk to him every day and get his point of view.
He's got a lot of great, great values that he can teach anybody. And he's the funniest person I've ever met — he's so funny.
Frierson: What's the best thing that's entered your life in 2016? It can be a movie, an album, food, music, a person — whatever.
Duncan: That's a tough question. ... I don't know, I've started listening to more classic rock, like The Band and they're awesome. I've also started listening to The Grateful Dead and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I like that music a lot. It's chill music.
Oh, there's these really good pretzels that they have at the grocery store. They're the buffalo pretzel chips and I'll have to bring you some the next time you come out. They're very good and I have them every week, so that answers that.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
Players Mentioned
