A Rising Star Shines Bright: Tennis Phenom Quang Duong Makes Waves in Pickleball
Vietnamese teenage tennis prodigy brings flashy game and competitive fire to the pickleball circuit
Tennis wunderkind Quang Duong has been taking the pickleball world by storm since picking up a paddle just a few years ago. Still only 17 years old, Duong sat down for a captivating interview on The James Ignatowich Show podcast in July, where he dished on his meteoric rise in pickleball, passion for competing and hopes for the future.
Ignatowich summed up expectations for Duong's future perfectly to end the podcast interview. "I think you're gonna be, if you keep training in doubles too, absolutely a beast," he told Duong. For this uniquely gifted Vietnamese star with the heart of a champion, the pickleball world appears his for the taking. We can't wait to witness the next stage of Duong's journey as he levels up his game in 2024.
0:32 - Quang Duong Background After winning the U.S. Open of paddle tennis on Venice Beach three years ago, Quang emailed Selkirk co-founder Rob Barnes. Rob sent him two pickleball paddles as a gift. Quang didn't take the sport seriously at first. For a while, Duong mostly just fooled around playing pickleball with his younger brother. But after picking up some recent successes on the pro pickleball tour, including appearances at the APP Newport Beach and PPA Denver Open, it's clear Duong is now locked in on dominating his new sport. The young phenom says he's currently focused on playing two more big pickleball tournaments this year - the Seattle Open (Quang Duong vs Ryan Sherry) and The National Championships in Dallas, Texas (Quang Duong vs Roscoe Bellamy, Interview). "I pay almost everything on my own," says Duong, who gratefully credits some of his wealthy tennis clients for helping cover travel costs to events.
1:39 - Pickleball or Tennis? So where does Duong's heart lie - with tennis or his new pickleball passion? "Right now I'm focused on two more tournaments with pickleball, which is the upcoming one, the Seattle one and the Dallas one," Duong told Ignatowich. "But for pickleball it's like my kind of side project." Though he's achieved a #46 ITF junior ranking and has the skills to compete at prestigious tournaments like Junior Wimbledon, Duong is clearly intrigued by the possibilities in pickleball. He trains up to 2 hours of tennis each morning, then spends at least an hour on pickleball in the afternoon. "Usually almost half of my tennis session, which is like two hours, and then after my tennis session I put in at least an hour in doubles or just fooling around with my younger brother," said Duong. 2:51 - Playing Doubles One area Duong is focused on improving is doubles play. Though he's already established himself as a top-flight singles player who can trade blows with the best, Duong knows that excelling in doubles is critical for long-term success in pickleball. "My dad wanted me to have like a good foundation for pickleball so that's why we focused on the singles first," he said. "But I got some good results now so we are probably gonna focus on doubles a lot more now." Duong envisions teaming up with his younger brother, who's apparently a lefty with slick pickleball skills. "The ideal double team is with me and my younger brother because we always train together," said Duong. He plans for them to start entering more doubles tournaments together next year, perhaps emerging as the next Ben Johns and Colin Johns. "Hopefully we're just gonna try our best and see what happens," Duong remarked. 4:30 - Who Does Quang Watch in Pickleball? Though he's new to the game, Duong makes sure to study footage of elite pickleball players to learn tactics and absorb their signature moves. "Of course I watch pros to learn how they play like for example Dylan Frazier," said Duong. "The night before we watched probably half an hour to forty-five minutes of Dylan Fraser - how he plays, how he moves on the court." Duong credits his dad with handling the overall strategy while he focuses on executing in the moment. 5:24 - Grip Status One of the most distinctive aspects of Duong's pickleball game is his western tennis grip on ground strokes, especially the forehand. He says he trains with every type of grip - semi-western, eastern, continental - and likes switching grips up depending on the shot. But Duong acknowledges he sometimes defaults back to an extreme western grip out of habit, laughing that his dad reminds him to fix it back to semi-western. Up at the net, Duong moves into more of a continental or semi-eastern grip for quicker reflex volleys. "Yeah more like a semi eastern grip, when I play mostly doubles because for the fast hands and dinking and stuff like that," Duong commented. He's open to tweaking his grip game as he gets more doubles experience. But the flashy western grip forehand has already proven deadly and dazzling to behold. 6:56 - Where Did the Name "Avatar_Ball_Bender" Come From? One of the most frequently asked questions Duong gets is about his Instagram handle, @avatar_ball_bender. As he tells it, the name was destiny. "Actually my name was Avatar before I was born as well so when I came straight out my name was already Avatar and stuck with that," joked Duong. He says watching the show Avatar: The Last Airbender as a kid cemented his love for the name. The "ball bender" portion comes from Duong's ability to create insane angles on his ground strokes. "I make some crazy angle shots sometime off the court - I bend the ball in," Duong described. "I did it a couple times with pickleball now as well, some ATP shots." Between the magic forehands and his clear affection for the show, Avatar_Ball_Bender encapsulates Duong's flair for the dramatic. 8:35 - "Tennis Player By Day, MMA Fighter By Night, Pickleballer By Weekend" Duong's Instagram bio proclaims him an "Ultra Omega super warrior tennis player by day, MMA fighter by night, pickleballer by weekend." Where did this larger-than-life description come from? Duong says it accurately reflects his intense passion for competing across different sports. "I love competing, I fight to the death almost every point and a part of that is I do like martial arts as well," said Duong. He focuses primarily on MMA, Muay Thai and Taekwondo within martial arts. Let's just say with his athletic skills and MMA training, Duong isn't an opponent anyone wants to see across the net after a questionable line call. "People better not make any tight calls against you," Ignatowich joked during the interview. Indeed, this is one fierce pickleball competitor. 9:49 - APP Newport Beach Over Junior Wimbledon Earlier this year, Duong passed up playing the prestigious Junior Wimbledon tennis tournament in favor of a smaller APP pickleball event in California. Why give up such a monumental opportunity? Duong says he suffered a wrist injury that prevented him from competing at his peak level in tennis. But amazingly, he could still play pickleball without pain. "Pickleball was the only one that didn't hurt and it's pretty tiring actually for some of the single games," explained Duong. "It's also like a pretty good workout you know." Though APP events don't compare to major tennis showcases like Wimbledon for recognition and competition, Duong enjoyed the physical challenge of high-level pickleball. His wrist needed low-impact pickleball more than rigorous tennis at the moment.
11:20 - Quang and Racquet Sports Thanks to his dad, who competed professionally at ping pong and other racket sports in Vietnam, Duong grew up playing a wide variety of games. Along with tennis and pickleball, he's also legitimately skilled at ping pong, badminton and paddle tennis. In fact, Duong asserts that he's "pretty good in ping pong." No wonder he's able to transfer talents across so many different racket sports! Right now, Duong considers tennis, pickleball and paddle tennis as his top three racket sports. And his dad continues coaching him in pickleball, passing down mental strategies and training techniques. But it's clear pickleball has captured Duong's curiosity in ways even tennis can't at times. The family connection to racket sports undoubtedly helps explain Duong's ease with a pickleball paddle. 13:03 - The Degree of Difficulty in Pickleball In one particularly insightful Instagram post, Duong assigned degrees of difficulty ratings to various racket sports - and the numbers reveal how he views pickleball's uniqueness. According to Duong, the difficulty rating in tennis ranges from 1000 to 1 million. Paddle tennis is 50 to 100. But for pickleball? Just 1 to 10. Duong maintains that pickleball is "easy and hard at the same time" for elite players. While tennis matches last hours and offer more chances to come back, pickleball is intensely mental from the start. "Once you're down it's pretty tough, it's much tougher to come back," said Duong. The brevity also forces pickleball players to stay intensely focused on every single point. So while pickleball is technically simpler than tennis, Duong argues the shorter format makes successfully competing much tougher. There's little room for error or lost of focus. 14:24 - Quang's Overall Grade in PPA Denver Open Duong gave himself an average grade of C for his performance at the APP Newport Beach tournament. So how did he grade his play at the more prestigious PPA Denver Open? Once again, Duong handed out a mark of B or C. Though he felt happy with how he battled through the early rounds, Duong wasn't satisfied with how he performed in the semifinal loss. "The one against Ben Johns, his pace is much harder compared to the other guys I played," reflected Duong. Despite his expressions of disappointment, Duong's continued deep runs prove he's already one of the world's best singles pickleball players. But with his youth and determination enabling rapid improvement, Duong clearly won't be pleased until he starts racking up titles. His modest grades reflect the sky-high expectations Duong puts on himself. 16:51 - Where Does Quang Train? For now, Duong is based primarily out of the Manhattan Beach area in Los Angeles. Beyond just the appealing weather and facilities, there are lots of strong pickleball players nearby to train and spar with. Duong says his 12-year old brother often serves as his main doubles partner and helps sharpen his reflexes. "My younger brother is actually much better pickleballer than me in terms of dinking and dropping and faster hands - he's much quicker than me," Duong revealed. "We practice doubles, I actually lose most of the time in hand to hand battles to my brother so he's my best training partner right now." The brothers plan to start entering more doubles events together. 18:04 - Quang Playing Doubles in Upcoming Tourneys As Duong focuses more intently on excelling at doubles, he's planning to just play with whoever asks him for upcoming tournaments. Without a regular partner, he's keeping an open mind and wants the experience. "Whoever just asked me to play some doubles I say yeah sure because I just need experience right now basically," said Duong. Duong acknowledged the challenges of adapting to new partners, especially compared to his seamless chemistry with his brother. But he's staying patient, knowing it takes time to develop winning doubles connections. Getting more tournament reps with different partners will only accelerate Duong's learning. 18:54 - PPA or APP? Though he holds positive feelings toward both organizational bodies, Duong made it clear that he prefers competing in PPA events over APP tournaments. "I love to compete and honestly I think PPA, the competition is much higher than APP," stated Duong. The best in the sport gravitate toward the PPA for its superior competition level, which aligns perfectly with Duong's competitive drive. Duong also explained that he chose to play the APP event in Newport Beach for convenient location and the opportunity to get more singles matches under his belt before Denver. But ultimately, the PPA clearly offers the highest level of play for someone of Duong's caliber looking to test himself against prime talent. 19:40 - Dylan Frazier vs. Quang Duong After dropping the first game 11-8 to veteran Dylan Frazier in Newport Beach, Duong impressively roared back to win the next two games 11-8, 11-6. Ignatowich asked him what changed during the match's pivotal swing. Duong says it took him a while to find his rhythm in the first game. "I was missing some easy shots and he was making some insane shots," reflected Duong. But in the second game, Duong's dad helped give him key strategic advice during a timeout. After calming his nerves a bit, Duong started ripping the ball with more confidence. By the third game, he was in utter rhythm and on "full throttle." When Duong finds his flow, his all-around game and athleticism can overwhelm even crafty veterans like Frazier.
Final Thoughts
At just 17 years old, Quang Duong has already established himself as a world class singles pickleball player. But perhaps even more impressively, he has the determination, work ethic and demeanor to keep improving dramatically across all pickleball disciplines. Duong's love of competing drives him daily, while support from his dad and brother provide an ideal training environment to realize his dreams.
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