University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina Spotlight Of The Week
March 22, 2007 | Men's Tennis
March 22, 2007
TarHeelBlue.com continues its Q&A sessions with members of the 2007 University of North Carolina men's tennis team. This week's featured player is David Stone, a North Carolina native of Greensboro. Stone teams with doubles partner, Lenny Gullan, on the court to comprise one of the best doubles teams in the country.
THB: ACC play opens this weekend with Georgia Tech and Clemson and the competition will get a little tougher. What advice are the upperclassmen giving the freshmen playing the ACC for the first time? How do you feel going into these matches?
David Stone: Well, the ACC season is a completely new season for us. It's like we had our first season now and we are going into our second. The ACC is the toughest conference in the country, so we have to take it one match at a time.
We tell our freshmen that it is a completely different atmosphere and the competition is going to be a lot different from here on out.
THB: What has been the best advice you have received since coming to UNC? What has been the hardest thing you've learned or endured?
DS: The best advice is that we are a team and we are all interconnected. What one person does affects each other as a whole and no one is bigger than anyone else.
The toughest thing is probably the amount of work you have to put into everything everyday to compete at this level. The amount of practice and training is a lot more. It is a big adjustment from junior tennis to college. You have to focus much more here.
THB: How have you evolved as a tennis player since high school when you competed in two state championships?
DS: I am much more disciplined now; I work much harder and focus so much more now.
THB: Can you talk a little about your relationship with Lenny Gullan since you have been playing together for over a year now?
DS: We are very close with one another on and off the court. We are a doubles team on the court and off the court, we hang out. We watch basketball and football games together; we even have some of the same classes together. We are extremely close friends all the time.
THB: You've been here and watched the team grow into one of the best teams in the country. What has it been like to witness and be a member of that kind of team and see some phenomenal players come through here?
DS: I am extremely happy to be on such a competitive team. We are all very competitive all the time. Anyone can beat anyone at any given point. The practice atmosphere is very competitive and exciting, which keeps it interesting. I have enjoyed every year I have been here since my freshman year.
THB: Describe the win over Duke in 2005 that you listed as your favorite sports moment?
DS: it was the first time we had beaten Duke in like nine years. I have grown up a UNC fan and always disliked Duke. So it was really exciting for me.
THB: You listed your talent outside tennis is cooking. Do your teammates make you cook for them? What do you like to cook?
DS: No, I don't cook for my teammates ever. I don't think they would trust me to cook for them. I really only cook for myself and my roommates sometimes. Mostly, I just cook pasta, breakfast, grits, eggs, stuff like that.
THB: What is it you want to do as with a sociology major?
DS: The verdict is still out on what I'm going to do after graduation. I chose sociology because when I was a freshman and taking prerequisites, I took Soc 10 and really enjoyed it. So I took another class and really like that one, so I decided to major in that. I've really enjoyed it, but have no clue where it is going to take me.
THB: Golf was the one thing you listed you would do for three hours in a day if you could do anything. Do you and some of your teammates hit the golf course on an off day?
DS: Yea, on a day off some of us, Taylor [Fogleman], Sandeep [Daiya] and Stefan [Hardy], we go out to Finley and play some golf. It is extremely relaxing and basically the complete opposite of tennis. It's not as physical of a game. You can pretty much relax and have fun. And it's fun to be outside and having a little fun.
THB: Growing up with two sisters, what was your childhood like? Did you fight a lot?
DS: Surprisingly, I got along well with my sisters. I was the middle child, so I always looked up to my older sister. She was a good student and was a good athlete; she played a lot of sports. I always wanted to be as good as her in both respects. And I always wanted to be a mentor to my little sister.
We did get in some fights from time to time though; especially when we would be playing tennis, we'd get in some arguments. My little sister is still in high school, she has one more year left, and plays tennis still. She wants to play in college and I think she has the potential to do that.
THB: You come from a long line of Tar Heel fans in your family. Can you talk a little about why that is? Does it mean something special for you to not only be attending the university, but also playing a varsity sport here?
DS: My dad graduated from NC, my aunt went to graduate school here, my older sister graduated from here, my cousin goes here now, so it was a huge aspect of my childhood. My dad took me to basketball and football games as a kid. It was really born in my blood.
It means a lot to all of us that I go here and play tennis. It was a goal of mine to play tennis at college, especially here. I come in here everyday and see the past player's banners and photos around, and it really gives me chills.
Players Mentioned
