American Steve Johnson has been through a lot in the last month. Just a few weeks ago his father Steve Johnson Sr passed away suddenly in his sleep.
Johnson withdrew from most of the pre French Open clay season, save for the event in Geneva immediately before the tournament. He made the quarter-finals there and has fought hard for wins this week in Paris.
That’s why his 6-2, 6-7, 3-6, 7-6 win over youngster Borna Coric, and his five-set win over Yuichi Sugita in the first round have been all the more impressive.
Johnson came out firing early in the match with Coric, saving a break point in the first game before breaking for a 3-0 lead. He added another break to add some gloss to the first set scoreline before edging a tight second set in a tiebreak.
Coric came back though, and won the third with a single break, and took an early lead in the fourth. Instead of wilting, Johnson stayed the course and the break seemed to galvanise him. The American hit a number of improbable and exceptional passing shots to drag himself back into contention.
The biggest piece of drama can at four-five with Johnson looking for the break that would have won him the match. After seeing a number of match points come and go, the American was docked a point controversially for alleged ball abuse (he had earlier broken a racket making the ‘ball abuse’ his second offence.) Coric would go on to hold and lead 3-0 in the tiebreak, and later 5-4. Johnson continued to fight though, and he got back level.
Johnson then found himself with another match point, against the Coric serve. This time he rolled the dice on his forehand. Dragging himself out wide to hit an inside-out forehand down the line. If he had missed or had gone too near to Coric then the Croatian would have won the point such was the amount of court space Johnson had left open to make the play. Instead, it was a clean winner.
It was reminiscent of the title match in Houston just a few months ago where Johnson won his second career title and first on American soil. With nerves plaguing his body to the point where his wrists and legs were cramping almost uncontrollably, Johnson also hit a special down-the-line forehand winner to take the title.
Today Johnson’s winning forehand did not win him the title, but fans at Roland Garros and on television around the world were left in little doubt of how much the win meant to him. Johnson sank to his knees, letting the tears flow. Steve Johnson Sr was more than Johnson’s father. He was his coach, a man who loved to watch and inspire his son. Johnson credited the amazing forehand winner to his father.
“I just knew he was looking down on me on that last point and gave me the strength to finish it off.”
Johnson said earlier in the tournament “the last two weeks of tennis hasn’t been about tennis for me.” They may not have been about tennis, but they have seen Johnson battle to equal his best every performance at Roland Garros, and when he takes on Dominic Thiem on Friday, he will have the chance to go even further.
- This reporter saw Johnson live on Sunday/Monday at Roland Garros (vs Sugita) and was left touched and inspired by his desire to honour his father and yet allow the emotions not to hinder him, but to inspire him and produce some of the best tennis I have seen him play.
