​"He’s going to have one win, and it’s going to be me." - Steve Johnson was certain his loss to the "terrible" kid would be Sinner's career peak.

Steve Johnson still laughs—mostly at himself—when he tells the story. Years before Jannik Sinner became a global superstar, a four-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 1, he was just a raw, skinny teenager with a wildcard at the 2019 Rome Masters. The Italian was only 17 years old and ranked world No. 263. 

But for Johnson, that match was nothing short of an emotional crisis. As he told John Isner, Sam Querrey and Jack Sock during a recent conversation in Tennis Major, “I don’t know if you guys ever felt this… you play like a local wildcard or a hometown kid and there’s different feelings you have.”

Walking onto centre court that afternoon, Johnson felt the pressure more than the confidence. Sinner was tall but rail-thin—far from the intimidating player he is today. Johnson remembered the moment vividly, saying, “So I walk out there and the kid’s like 6'3, 112 pounds, like super skinny and you’re just like, ‘Oh, this could go bad for me. You gotta win, right?’ Because this is a bad look on centre court.” The expectations weren’t just about ranking or experience—they were about pride.

The match dragged into a deciding set, and suddenly the fear of embarrassment became very real. Johnson described the feeling with brutal honesty: “And then the third set rolls around. I’m just like, ‘Please win, you’ve got to win this, just find a way.’ I either serve for the match or had match points and then lost 7–5.” That loss wasn’t just another early-round exit—it hit him at the core. The moment he stepped off court, the frustration boiled over.

Johnson confessed he spiraled fast. Immediately after the match, he grabbed his phone and vented. “I called my agent… and I’m like, ‘I just lost to—this kid sucks, he’s terrible. I’m literally quitting tennis for the rest of your life.’” The self-deprecating humour in how he tells it now only highlights how shaken he was then. His coach wasn’t even at the tournament yet, leaving him stewing alone in Rome. The defeat felt catastrophic.

But his team pushed back. They told him to breathe, step back and actually pay attention to the kid who just beat him. Johnson recalled their reaction clearly: “I started talking to my agent, a couple of the other coaches, they’re like, ‘Give it time. This kid is going to be unreal.’” He didn’t buy it—not for one second. As he admitted, “I’m like, ‘You guys are so stupid, this guy is never going to make it anywhere. He’s going to have one win, and it’s going to be me. This is never going to change.’”

And then came the punchline. The twist he never saw coming. The part of the story that only gets funnier—and more unbelievable—with time. “Little did I know like four years from then, he’s going to be making $100 million a year winning Slams and being by far and away the No. 1 player.” The disbelief in his voice says it all: he had no idea he had just lost to a generational talent.