Mitchell Johnson: The tennis player who never was

The 34-year-old’s idol growing up was American tennis icon Pete Sampras

2009's ICC cricketer of the year and one of Australia's most iconic bowlers, Mitchell Johnson announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket yesterday.

Part of the squad for the test series Australia are currently playing against New Zealand at the WACA in Perth, an adopted home ground for Johnson, this will be the player's last ever international cricket match.

He has 311 wickets in 73 test matches and 239 wickets in 153 ODIs to his name, but cricket was not Johnson’s first love. The tall Queenslander had been very passionate about tennis from a young age, and it had been his first sport. It was not just a passing fancy for Johnson, who trained hard towards becoming a professional.

His idol was now-retired American tennis icon Pete Sampras, who set several first-time Open Era records in his illustrious 15-year career. ‘Pistol Pete’ is also still the only player to have ended six consecutive years atop the ATP rankings.

“I was very serious about tennis. I wanted to pursue it professionally. I played a lot of tennis back then,” Johnson said in an interview earlier this year ahead of the Indian Premier League in April.

Although he has been part of a World Cup winning squad, two Champions Trophy winning teams, been the ICC cricketer of the year and won many other laurels, Johnson’s first dream was to win the Wimbledon. “Someone I know got me a t-shirt from there," Johnson said. He would cherish the memento, and put in daily grueling practice – on court and off it, playing sometimes on dusty grounds in his hometown of Townsville.

The country has given rise to a number of the sport’s most iconic players – most notably among them the legendary Rod Laver and Roy Emerson. Pat Rafter, Pat Cash and Lleyton Hewitt are some former players from the country, while the current tennis roster boasts several talented names, among them Bernard Tomic, Nick Kyrgios and Casey Dellacqua.

That roster could also have boasted Johnson, who was in fact set to move to Brisbane in order to pursue his tennis career full-time.Spotted by several tennis coaches in the Queensland city, he had been invited to train at many clinics to hone his skills.

However, the cricketer says, the sport was beyond his family's means, which led to him eventually dropping it in favour of cricket.

Fun fact: although he is a left-arm bowler, he was a right-handed tennis player known for his strong serve.

It wasn’t all bad, though, with the bowler saying the skills he developed whilst training for tennis helped him immensely in cricket – “Tennis helped me with my stamina, my movements became swifter and I developed tremendous hand-eye coordination,” he said.

Perhaps the last of the tearaway bowlers in the game today, Johnson hangs up his cap immediately after the current test.