{"id":320410,"date":"2025-10-21T05:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T05:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/320410\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T05:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T05:39:11","slug":"steve-johnson-recalls-what-roger-federer-did-in-a-match-against-him-in-2020-which-he-found-remarkable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/320410\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Johnson recalls what Roger Federer did in a match against him in 2020 which he found &#8216;remarkable&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>   <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMXlnMTNoeXE4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> Follow us on Google Discover <\/a>  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Roger Federer continues to be in the tennis discussion despite retiring in 2022, largely for his efforts on the court.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Former world number one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/roger-federer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Federer<\/a> won 103 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/atp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ATP<\/a> titles during his phenomenal career, including 20 Grand Slam titles.<\/p>\n<p>Only Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are ahead of the iconic figure on the all-time list, although <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/news\/john-isner-picks-who-made-him-the-most-nervous-the-first-time-he-played-roger-federer-rafael-nadal-and-novak-djokovic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Federer made many opponents the most nervous<\/a> among the trio.<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic tops the pile with 24 titles, one away from the all-time tennis record, with Nadal boasting 22 triumphs.<\/p>\n<p>Federer returned to the court at the Shanghai Masters earlier this month, showcasing his skills in an exhibition match in front of adoring fans.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240290891-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Roger Federer plays an exhibition match at the 2025 Shanghai Masters\" class=\"wp-image-136578\" \/>Photo by Lintao Zhang\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/news\/valentin-vacherot-explains-why-roger-federer-made-him-go-crazy-during-the-shanghai-masters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Valentin Vacherot explains why Roger Federer made him go \u2018crazy\u2019 during the Shanghai Masters<\/a><\/p>\n<p>What Roger Federer did in a match against Steve Johnson in 2020 which was \u2018remarkable\u2019<\/p>\n<p>He remains a key figure within the sport despite not playing competitively, with Federer now the subject of nostalgia from his fellow former player <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/steve-johnson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steve Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The American recalled on The Changeover Podcast: \u201cI played him in Indian Wells in 2017 and lost 6-6 but it was frustrating as I had looks in both sets to win it, which was a bit frustrating as I actually had a good game plan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was playing really well, I used my slice extremely well. It was frustrating him to a certain degree. He was not as comfortable as he had just beaten me eight months prior at Wimbledon, pretty routinely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I left that match in 2017 thinking that I have a good game plan and I really want to play him again, I know what I can do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI then played him in Australia the next year and he beat me 2, 2 and 2. Something like that. Like bad. Like bad, bad. And he is able to change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was trying to do similar things that I did in Indian Wells and he just said absolutely not, I am not going to let you do this. He got out of those patterns so quickly and I was like what do I do now?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was working and now I can\u2019t get into this pattern. He was able to change the game plan and change what he does effortlessly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was using my chip really well in Indian Wells and he was kind of getting flustered, letting me hit a couple and then I would really attack his forehand first ball.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGo into his forehand to open up his backhand and I was doing it very well. At that time Indian Wells had really lively and bouncy courts, I was using good kicks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGetting it up and out of his strike zone and hitting a chip below his knees. But he would not let me do that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery time in Australia, I would go good chip and deep cross, he went chip line immediately, so I was on the run.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe would not even let me get to the second slice to then chip it down the line to get him moving. It was really remarkable. I left that match and Craig [his coach] and I were thinking he changed tactics very well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Who is four-time ATP champion Steve Johnson?<\/p>\n<p>Like most of the ATP Tour players during Federer\u2019s career, Johnson couldn\u2019t replicate the feats of the Swiss legend.<\/p>\n<p>But the American did manage to win four ATP titles during his time on the court, and reached number 21 in the world rankings.<\/p>\n<p>He finished his career with 197 wins and 204 losses, and earned over $8million from his singles and doubles efforts combined.<\/p>\n<p>A fourth round venture to Wimbledon in 2016 represented his best Grand Slam finish, while Johnson reached the third round of the other three tournaments.<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Year<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Winner<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Tournament<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Round<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Surface<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Score<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2020<\/td>\n<td>Roger Federer<\/td>\n<td>Australian Open<\/td>\n<td>Round of 128<\/td>\n<td>Outdoor Hard<\/td>\n<td>63 62 62<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2017<\/td>\n<td>Roger Federer<\/td>\n<td>ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells<\/td>\n<td>Round of 32<\/td>\n<td>Outdoor Hard<\/td>\n<td>76(3) 76(4)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2016<\/td>\n<td>Roger Federer<\/td>\n<td>Wimbledon<\/td>\n<td>Round of 16<\/td>\n<td>Outdoor Grass<\/td>\n<td>62 63 75<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Steve Johnson vs Roger Federer head-to-head record<\/p>\n<p>It was indeed 2020 when Johnson met Federer as opposed to his recollection of 2018, while the Swiss star won their match 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.<\/p>\n<p>But the ruthlessness of Federer remains the same, with Johnson certainly not the only player to have been on the receiving end of such a masterclass on the court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Roger Federer continues to be in the tennis discussion despite retiring in 2022,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":320411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1479,13158,62,12334,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-320410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-roger-federer","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-steve-johnson","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115410552232834008","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}