When Legacy Finds You | A Conversation with Artist Walter Redondo on Tennis, Creation, and a Life Well Played

By Jennifer Redondo

What's the protocol when you discover someone with your relatively uncommon last name, "Redondo," whom you've never met? I've always assumed I was acquainted with all my relatives. However, in recent years, I've received inquiries about museum exhibits featuring tennis legends with the Redondo surname, prompting me to wonder about a possible connection. Most recently, my sister encountered an artist named Walter Redondo while traveling. Our research revealed that Walter is both a celebrated tennis legend. He not only has been honored in both the Hall of Champions and the Hall of Fame for his accomplishments on the court, and he is also a fine artist. While any family relation is still unconfirmed, I had the pleasure of interviewing Walter to delve into his life and career journey. Read the complete interview below if you'd like to learn more.

Tell us about yourself, Walter.

Walter Redondo: I'm Walter. I was born and raised in San Diego. I come from a family of nine. I'm in the middle. I have six sisters and two other brothers. I was raised in the sports world and excelled within that community. My family and I got involved in tennis mostly because both my parents were working. My father was in the U.S. Navy and my mom worked at Broadway (a department store) wrapping gifts.

My grandmother took care of us. She needed to keep us all together so she got us involved in tennis at Balboa Park. We all played tennis so our grandmother was able to watch over us and keep us active and healthy at the same time. As time went on, we excelled in the sport. We didn’t have the intention of going pro, but rather, it was our grandmother’s way of disciplining us. In fact, my family and I are working on a documentary called Love All with KPBS, PBS and Hulu where we reflect on my grandmother’s influence, how she affected our lives, and how much love my family shares with one another.

Can you share more about your tennis career?

Walter Redondo: I started playing tennis at a young age, around seven years old. When I got older I started broadening out, playing all over the United States. I became the #1 ranked player in the United States as a junior. I went on to the professional tour and played the major events – Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and such. My sister, Marita, excelled as well. She got to number nine in the world. The rest of the family excelled to some degree, but due to financial circumstances, we were struggling to sustain. It takes a great deal of finances to play at the professional level.

Fortunately, we have been really blessed with great people in our lives who really helped us. My Aunt Rita, Uncle Ted, and mom Martha helped finance a little bit of what was happening in our lives. Along with our family support, the community got behind us. That was really a blessing because that also helped us finance our career to some degree.

At around 16-17 years old, I was having a difficult time dealing with not meeting up to expectations of others. I wasn't excelling the way that I was expected to. Magazines and the media held me in high regard – at one point, they were projecting that I would be the next top 10 tennis players in the United States. When I wasn't meeting that expectation, I was operating under a lot of fear. Rather than challenging myself, I started competing too much out of fear which hindered my performance. At that time, I didn’t really understand what was going on. I stopped playing professional tennis after twenty years, around 27 years old.

How did you get into the arts?

Walter Redondo: I’ve always enjoyed art. I was already immersed in art as young as seven years old. It came about because I saw my older brother, Ronnie, drawing in the bedroom. I walked in the room, and I picked up whatever he was using and I drew exactly what he drew. I compared what I was doing next to his, I thought, "Oh my gosh, I think I can draw. I think I can create." That confirmed for me very early on that this is something I really like. I started doing art from then on. Then, my teachers started to see that I was very creative and I loved drawing. They began to nurture it by having me do all their classroom boards, and I even created the stages for school plays. I am really grateful my teachers spent time nurturing my creativity.

I was always drawing and doing art when I was on the (tennis) tour. Art was my way of escaping from all the pressure and the things I was dealing with. When I got off the tour, I transitioned into the art world. That’s when I committed to myself, that I am going to absolutely create like I'm a little child, and I'm not going to let anything outside affect the way that I'm thinking and the way that I perceive.

I was dealing with a lot of thoughts in my head, how people viewed me, and who they thought I was going to be. But I believe God always had a plan. I believe that to this day – He turned what I’m doing now into something that’s fruitful for Him. Everything that I am doing now is basically for His glory. Hopefully it will have an impact on others’ lives. I find what I’m doing now to be fulfilling.

What type of art do you focus on?

Walter Redondo: I got into realism and I really enjoyed it. As I evolved, I discovered that I wanted to be more spontaneous and not as rigid like on the tennis court. I needed to allow errors which actually had a hindrance on my performance because I was playing out of the fear of making mistakes. My art was the way I was going to say all mistakes are going to be part of what I'm doing and I'm going to make those mistakes and I'm going to really learn how to make all the things that I once was fearful of and turn them into something that was going to be really great.

Painting is the main thing I do primarily, though I really love sculpting or assembling works – I love finding objects that may have been lost or what we don’t think much about. I like being able to bring something that complements it. I love being able to purpose it with other things, whether it be a community or the gathering of other pieces. A purpose starts to form and then it comes into a full maturity where it now stands as a sculpture with a voice that speaks. I think that's really a neat thing.

Where do you gain inspiration for your art?

Walter Redondo: As a painter, I start with one stroke and I end with one stroke. Everything in between is so similar to the intuition of how to move on a tennis court, the locating of a player on one side is the same way I locate the eye on a canvas so I can use the other half of the canvas the way that I would use a tennis court.

When others have asked how I start, I think about my life – how on my own, I messed my life up. I start within the mess. The beautiful thing is – I'm learning to just experience what God does in my life as I'm painting. It's almost like He has taken the mess of my life and he's turned it around into something amazing. When I think about starting a canvas as a mess, all I'm doing is taking that mess and turning that into something hopefully really beautiful that has a message.

What did your parents say when you quit tennis to go into the arts?

Walter Redondo: They never really had put any pressure on me. The most important thing my parents really ever wanted from me was to make sure that I was just happy doing what fulfilled me. Even though tennis was fulfilling for me for that moment of time, I remember sitting down with my father at the table, and I asked him: "Dad, What's success for you?" And he said, "Walter, Success for me is seeing that my family is taken care of and that they have a roof over their head, that we're together. That's success for me." That was so shocking to me because I would have thought something totally different – like a big house, this or that. But the simpleness of his thinking made such an impact on my life, knowing that his only concern was that he loved us.

What does success mean for you?

Walter Redondo: Success is being fulfilled with what I have chosen to believe, for the one whom I believe. My fulfillment comes from knowing that I'm following God’s plans, that are no longer my own. As long as I'm keeping my life in order and I'm seeking God and fulfilling what He wants, that to me is full success. For me, being able to use my talent – being creative, painting or sculpting – to make an impact on others’ lives is considered success.

Did you imagine you would be where you are today?

Walter Redondo: No, I thought that I would have been teaching tennis and coaching after I got off the tour. Which I did! Though I enjoy being able to teach and coach kids, I knew that there was something more that I wanted to do that was a little bit more expressive, that was more freeing for me. In my early twenties, I started really thinking about what I wanted to pursue – I remember making that decision within my heart. Art was the passion that I went after.

When I got off the tour, and when I got off the court, I always thought “ I wish I would have played this way”. So now, I don’t want any regrets when I’m looking back. I want to be able to look back and hopefully inspire someone and say, "Wow, you know, Walter just chose to believe. Regardless of what was going on, he took the courage to really go after something.” For me, it is vital for me to grow spiritually. If I don't grow spiritually I'm pretty much just existing. I'm not living. Faith is the key!

What are you currently working on?

Walter Redondo: I am always doing art, and I still coach a couple of folks. As I mentioned earlier, my family had a huge influence on our community and in the tennis world. We are working on a documentary called Love All about our family with KPBS, PBS and Hulu. I can’t wait to share more with all of you when time comes.

Where can people find you?

Walter Redondo: The Walter Redondo Fine Art Collection gallery is in the Marina district of San Diego, close to downtown. It's along the water at 789 Harbor Drive. People can come visit, purchase and commission art. I also have an art studio at the Granger Hotel on 5th and Broadway, where I create all my work and appointments can be made. You can find more information on my website and on Instagram.

---

Written By Jennider Redondo

---