I wanted to play at Wimbledon by the age of 18: Mitchell Johnson

Cricketers, especially in Australia, come from a very strong sports background. It’s not just cricket while growing up for them. One such cricketer who nurtured a different passion before stamping his authority in the game of cricket was Mitchell Johnson.

Johnson has revealed that playing at the prestigious grass courts of All England Club was his boyhood ambition. Moreover, he wanted to achieve this as a professional tennis player before he reached the age of 18.

Johnson was a gifted junior tennis player when growing up in Townsville in Queensland and competed at national schoolboy championships against peers who went on to pursue dreams on the professional circuit.

However, his interest for the team sport began to fade by the time he left secondary school and switched over to cricket. One reason behind his inclination towards cricket may due to his reputation as the ‘next big thing in Australian cricket.’ His decision to focus more on cricket wasn’t wrong as he went to etch his name in the cricketing history as one of the most fearsome bowlers of all time.

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“I had idols like (America’s 14-times Grand Slam winner) Pete Sampras and (Swedish former world number one) Stefan Edberg, I remember when I was quite young watching him (Edberg) play although I wasn’t a serve-volleyer,” Johnson recounted to cricket,com.au recently.

“I used to love watching Pete Sampras, the single hand backhand and his serve and I wanted to go to Wimbledon.

“I made a goal that I wanted to get there by the age of 18, but cricket was always a passion as well, always playing in the backyard and played it at school and eventually played club cricket and then really enjoyed that as well.”