William Johnston

William Johnston, known to the tennis world as ‘Little Bill’ was born on November 2, 1894 in San Francisco, California. He started playing tennis on the public courts of San Francisco and was known for his aggressiveness on the court. His angle overhead smash was especially known to be dreaded by most of his opponents, and although small for a man his age, he was also known for his powerful forehand drive, known to be the best forehand of all time until Pancho Segura emerged in the 1940s with his two-handed forehand.

Johnston reached his peak in 1920, shortly before Bill Tilden began to defeat him regularly. Johnston along with Bill Tilden, popularly known as “Big Bill’, was one of the biggest stars in tennis in the 1920s. Together, they smashed through French, Australian, British and Japanese tandems from 1920 to 1926, leading the dominance of the US in the Davis Cup championships during these years. However, the two were also fierce rivals. It was said that Johnston would have garnered more national championships if Bill Tilden was not around. To his credit, Johnston was able to bag US singles titles twice and was a runner-up to the title for six times, losing to Tilden for a total of five times.

Johnston ranked in the World top 10 for eight straight years from 1919 to 1927, and won a title in Wimbledon in 1923. His health declined during the latter part of the 1920s, partly attributed to his stint in the Navy during WWI, and he eventually retired from tennis after the 1927 season. Johnston died on May 1, 1946 of tuberculosis and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1958.