Bill Tilden

Known as "Big Bill" and "Little Bill," Tilden and Johnston were the two greatest stars in American men's tennis during the 1920s. Together the terror twins were able to successively defeat the French, Australians, British, and Japanese in Davis Cup matches from 1920 to 1926, creating a sevenyear stretch of American dominance in those competitions. But the two were also rivals. It has been said that it was Bill Johnston's bad luck that he was playing during the reign of Tilden, or else he would have accumulated more national championships. As it was, he was able to win the U.S. singles title twice, in 1915 and again in 1919. It was Tilden's defeat in that 1919 match that convinced "Big Bill" that he needed more firepower on his backhand side. Johnston was runner-up to the title six times; in five of those competitions he lost to Tilden—five inches taller than him—in the final.

Johnston was born in San Francisco, California, on November 2, 1894. Unlike Tilden, he developed his tennis skills and techniques on the public courts of that city. He was an aggressive player, with a gritty competitive attitude. Johnston developed an angled overhead smash that was the despair of many opponents. He was also known for his western grip and the resulting topspin forehand drive, turning such a shot into one of the most effective in tennis history. He would take the ball shoulder height and was one of the first to leap off the ground on his follow-through.

Johnston was ranked in the World Top Ten for eight straight years from 1919 until his health began to fail in 1927. In the U.S. he was in the top ten 12 times from 1913. In addition to his two U.S. singles titles, he also won Wimbledon in 1923, and won 11 of 14 Davis Cup matches in seven challenge rounds. He retired from tennis after the 1927 season, as he had never regained his health from the time he served in the Navy in World War I. Johnston died on May 1, 1946, and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1958.