As the United States chase an end to a decade long wait for a Wimbledon singles champion, it hasn’t always been that way.
It is nine years since Serena Williams lifted the Venus Rosewater dish in 2016, while for the men it is 25 years since Peter Sampras won the seventh of his titles at the All England Club.
Wimbledon is one of the four tennis Grand SlamsGettyWith the Championships in full swing the US are left with two players standing in both the men’s and the women’s Round of 16 draws.
Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Emma Navarro and Amanda Anisimova will lead US hopes of following Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and the Williams sisters.
Back in the early 1900s a little boy named William “Bill” Johnston who immersed himself in tennis after a natural disaster, was unaware just how much of a legacy he would leave on the sport.
Born in 1894, Johnston would pick up a racket for the very first time in 1906 when he was just 11-years-old.
That same year, San Francisco – the seventh largest city in the US– suffered a devastating earthquake which sparked uncontrollable fires that lasted for three days.
Several thousands of lives were lost, and approximately half of the city’s population were left homeless.
As a result, schools were closed for months.
With surplus time on his hands, Johnston took to the tennis courts to combat boredom and simultaneously hone his skills.
Four years later at the 1910 Bay Counties junior singles competition, a then-15-year-old Johnston won his first tournament.
Fast-forward to 1915, and he won the U.S. National Men’s Singles Championship over Maurice McLoughlin, and then defeated superstar Bill Tilden four years after that.
“Little” Bill Johnston became the World No 1 in 1915 and 1919.GettyView Tweet: t.co/kssY7cXefs
Nicknamed “Little” Bill due to his 5-foot-8 stature, Johnston later lived in the shadow of 6-foot-2 “Big” Bill for the remainder of his career, with the latter being considered one of the greatest players of all time.
The two would form a formidable combination, and together, they helped the Americans to win the Davis Cup in seven consecutive years between 1920-26 – a record for the longest run of unbroken success in the competition’s history that began in 1900.
In total, at the Davis Cup he had an exceptional 18-3 overall record, 14-3 of which were singles matches.
Tilden later wrote about his teammate, and biggest rival, in his 1925 book, ‘Match Play and the Spin of the Ball’ about how they would go about playing against each other.
“Johnston and I play each other from the baseline because we each fear the other’s ground stroke too much to come to the net indiscriminately,” Tilden wrote.
“But in every point we are sparring for an opening that will allow us to take the offensive and carry it to the net position.”
Johnston won three Grand Slam titles, two in the US, and one at WimbledonGettyJohnston’s singles titles at the US Open in 1915 and 1919 aided in him being ranked No. 1 by the United States Lawn Tennis Association.
During those early years, he was also a serial winner in the doubles format.
Along with doubles partner Clarence Griffin, won three US Open Grand Slam titles in five years, in 1915, 1916, and 1920.
Furthermore, he also won the US Open in 1921 when he partnered with then-World No. 3 Mary Brown in the mixed doubles format.
Already with two singles Grand Slam victories to his name, all of which came on US soil, Johnston was seeking another, though it would take him four years.
Having travelled over the pond, Johnston defeated fellow American Frank Hunter 6-0, 6-3, 6-1 on his way to becoming the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Champion in 1923.
Johnston has been credited for introducing the Western gripGettyIt would be his final Grand Slam victory, as he would go on to lose his last three US Open Finals to his biggest rival Tilden in 1923, 1924 and 1925.
Johnston ultimately wound up as the runner-up in six of his nine total Grand Slam finals between 1915 and 1925.
Known for his topspin forehead-heavy approach, it is believed that Johnston was the first person to introduce the Western grip, something that is still somewhat of a rarity in the modern game.
Big Bill also wrote in his book about Johnston’s forehand.
“The forehand drive of William M. Johnston is unquestionably the greatest single tennis shot in the world, bar none,” Tilden said.
“He seems able to use it with every possible degree of speed, with an accuracy that baffles the fastest court covering, and with a steadiness which has discouraged every opponent he has ever faced.
“No stroke has ever been developed by any other player to equal its efficiency and general dependability.”
Djokovic (L) and Nadal (R) have each used an aggressive semi-Western grip that has brought them so much successGETTY Swiatek uses the Western grip and is one of the best clay-court players in the worldGettyTwenty-four-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic, for example, has used a semi-Western grip throughout his career, though his grips are so intense they give off the impression that they are Western.
Nadal was the same, and he also found huge success leading him to win four US Open titles and 14 French Open titles during his stellar career.
Due to its advantages on clay and hard courts, modern day specialists on these surfaces are adopting the Western, which has ultimately seen a rise in its prominence.
For example, current World No. 4 Iga Swiatek uses it and she has already won the US Open and at Roland-Garros before turning 24-years-old.
Johnston retired from tennis 1927 at the age of 32 due to health issues, and just 19 years later at the age of 51, he would pass away from a bout of Tuberculosis.
Nonetheless, the legacy Johnston left behind has undoubtedly shaped tennis as the game we know it to be today.
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