Editor’s Note: Tunnel Hill native and Northwest Whitfield High School graduate Philip Johnson will be inducted into the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame on Aug. 10 at Marietta Country Club in Kennesaw. Johnson was an All-America player and two-time national champion at Georgia who then reached the top 200 in the world on the ATP Tour in the 1980s. Below is a profile on Johnson that will appear in the Hall of Fame program. For more information on the Hall of Fame or the induction ceremony, contact Darren Potkey at potkey@ustageorgia.com or 404-256-9532.
Philip Johnson, who clinched the University of Georgia’s first men’s tennis national championship in 1985, started as small-fry underdog junior player and became a two-time college All-American and the first Georgia native to reach the top 150 on the ATP Tour.
Johnson, a native of Tunnel Hill and a graduate of Northwest Whitfield High School, was the son of a Methodist minister who built a tennis court next to his Dalton church in the 1970s. Johnson won a tournament on that court at age 11, the first time he’d picked up a tennis racket. Johnson was so small — still just 4 feet, 11 inches, 85 pounds, when he turned 16 — that he needed two hands to swing his T2000. Johnson grew, but he held onto his unusual style the rest of his career, using it to create masterful angles that went well with his outstanding speed and footwork.
Johnson’s junior doubles partner, Tommy Jones, provided quite a contrast, standing 6-foot-8. The two became known as Mutt and Jeff. Jones introduced Johnson to Jack Waters, the legendary Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame coach from Atlanta. Waters saw potential in Johnson despite his size. For two years, Johnson would take a 6 p.m. Greyhound bus to Atlanta to train with Waters for the weekend, departing on the same bus each Sunday evening.
“I never missed a weekend for two years,” Johnson said. “Jack charged my dad for the first lesson and never charged him again. I hit a thousand hours with him. When I turned 16, Jack bought me a car so I wouldn’t have to ride the bus. I missed every football game, prom and dance as a kid. I don’t know where that dedication came from. That’s a pretty good sacrifice for a kid.’’
Johnson became the state’s No. 1 junior player, but he never cracked the top 100 nationally. UGA’s tennis team, just beginning to compete for national titles, was recruiting only top-25 players in those days, but Waters sold Georgia coach Dan Magill on Johnson’s worth ethic and potential. Magill, famous for giving Georgia athletes colorful nicknames, would not regret the decision for the player he would soon call the Dalton Detonator.
Playing No. 5 singles in his sophomore season, Johnson won the clinching match in the NCAA final against UCLA, winning 7-5 in the third set against Brett Greenwood. Georgia became the first school not named UCLA, Southern Cal or Stanford to win the national title since 1972.
“Out of anything that’s happened to me in tennis, that’s the greatest thrill I’ve ever had,” Johnson said. “Nothing compares to it. Every kid dreams of that opportunity. Most of the time it doesn’t show up, but it was right there in front of me. The whole stadium had eyes on court No. 5.’’
Johnson’s teammates carried him and Magill off the courts on their shoulders in front of the Athens home crowd.
The next two seasons, Johnson played No. 1 singles, succeeding two-time singles national champion Mikael Pernfors. Johnson was never pegged as a future No. 1 singles player, but he credits two years of playing under Magill and assistant Manuel Diaz and behind four 1985 seniors — Pernfors, Allen Miller, George Bezecny and Deane Frey — for elevating his game.
As a junior, Johnson was unbeaten without losing a set in SEC play and made his first All-America team. He amazingly won his first NCAA singles tournament match after trailing 6-0, 5-0, 40-love against South Carolina’s Jan Sandberg. As a senior, Johnson led Georgia to another national title. He finished ranked No. 2 nationally in singles (behind future world top-20 player Richey Reneberg of SMU) and made All-America again.
Johnson then played five years on the pro tour. He won his first two pro tournaments, both played in South Africa, and later defeated former world top-10 players Alberto Mancini and Anders Järryd. Johnson twice played Andre Agassi at the U.S. Open, once in the third round, in 1989, the year Johnson reached a career-high ranking of No. 135, making him the most successful ATP Tour pro in state history to that point.
Johnson has coached tennis since leaving the tour. He was at the Racquet Club of Chattanooga for 12 years, then at the Baylor School for 13. Johnson is now a teaching pro at Chattanooga’s Manker Patten Tennis Club. As a player, Johnson said he’s most proud doing a little better than most thought he could.
“Don’t let people sell you short,” he said. “Set your goals. People said I wouldn’t get into Georgia. I did, and I did it pretty well.’’
Submitted by Todd Holcomb for the Georgia Tennis Hall of Fame.