University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Assistant Coach Hoists Wimbledon Hardware
July 10, 2000 | Men's Tennis
July 10, 2000
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND - University of North Carolina assistant men's tennis coach and former All-America player Don Johnson joined with Kimberly Po Sunday to win the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon. Johnson, who graduated from UNC in 1990, and Po, who attended the University of California, defeated teenagers Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to capture the mixed doubles crown.
In mixed doubles, the experienced U.S. team recovered from a slow start to claim its first Grand Slam title. Johnson and Po had finished as runnersup at the 1999 U.S. Open mixed doubles competiton on the date of Johnson's 31st birthday. Earlier in 2000, Johnson and Po were quarterfinalists in mixed doubles at both the Australian Open and the French Open.
Johnson, who led the Tar Heels to the Atlantic Coast Conference title as a senior in 1990, said he and Po were lucky to just make it past the first round at Wimbledon, much less win the whole thing. "We eventually won that 9-7 in the third, and Kim lifted me up and kept me in that match," he said. "She's very good like that, a great partner."
Johnson dropped his serve in the second game, but the Americans immediately fought back and broke Clijsters in the next. Johnson and Clijsters struggled on their serve, with Johnson saving two break points in the sixth game before Clijsters was broken in the seventh. Po then found herself in trouble at 4-3 but saved a break point, and Johnson eventually served out the set at love.
There was nothing to separate the two teams in the second set, with each player holding serve comfortably until Clijsters was broken in the 11th game. Hewitt, who had taken a fall and scraped his knee during that game, then called for the trainer. While he was treated, the relaxed Americans joked and posed for a spectator taking a photo.
The stoppage though broke Po's rhythm and she failed to serve out the match. But in the tiebreaker Po hit a winner off a Clijsters serve to gain a 3-1 advantage and a double fault by Hewitt gave the Americans a 6-3 lead that would not be overcome.
Johnson, who currently resides full-time in Chapel Hill, N.C., joins former UNC great Vic Seixas, '49, as Wimbledon champions from the famed UNC tennis program. Seixas won the Wimbledon singles championship in 1953.
