Bill Johnston (tennis)

William M. "Bill" Johnston, called " Little Bill" ( born November 2, 1894 in San Francisco, California, † May 1, 1946 ) was an American tennis player.

Biography

He was before the great time of "Big Bill" Tilden is the best American tennis player. Although he often played against Bill Tilden in the 1920s, but could not win in an important game against him. Together they won the Davis Cup seven times in a row. His greatest successes in individual were winning the U.S. Championships in 1919 in Forest Hills, when he defeated in the final Bill Tilden, and the victory at Wimbledon in 1923. 1958, posthumous induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

His game lived mainly by his forehand, one of the best forehand strokes of all time, until Pancho Segura late forties revolutionized the game with his two-handed forehand.

Johnston died in 1946 at the age of 51 years.