By Don Ketchum

Identical twins Yates and Hunter Johnson will begin what they hope will be another impressive march through the top tennis tandems at the Division I state tournament.

The juniors from Goodyear Millennium are two-time state champs and received a bye through Friday’s (April 15) first round as this year’s top seed. They will begin play on Saturday (April 16) at 2 p.m. at the Gene Autry Tennis Center in Mesa.

“I’m not sure it has ever happened that a doubles team has won a championship three times,’’ Hunter Johnson said. “It would be great for us to win again. It would be great for our school and would mean a lot to us.’’

The Johnsons have won some national tournaments and recently competed in the Easter Bowl national junior tournament in Palm Springs, Calif.

They know that opponents will have extra motivation to try to keep them from accomplishing their goal.

“There’s a little pressure on us,’’ Yates Johnson said. “We like the challenge. We are not worried, though. We have to stay focused on winning our matches, with so many different teams.’’

The boys’ early years were spent in Taos, N.M., where the family built a tennis court in the back yard. Their father, Jeff, is a tennis instructor and felt the boys could find better competition and better weather in the Phoenix area. The family moved to the Valley just before the twins’ eighth-grade year.

“They’ve been playing since almost before they were able to walk,’’ Jeff Johnson said. “They’ve played together a long time. Not many doubles teams can say that. Teams change all the time, and that can lead to a lot of miscommunication. Hunter and Yates know each other’s moves before they do them.’’

Yates said the twins’ strategy seldom varies.

“We rely more on our strengths and what we’ve learned than being worried as much about what the other team might do,’’ he said.

They often use an “I’’ formation, lining up in front of each other, then moving into position while the opponent tries to figure out what they are doing.

“Not a lot of people do it,’’ Yates said. “It distracts them when they don’t know where you’re going.’’

It adds to the distraction, Hunter said, that the brothers look like each other.

But their success comes from much more than smoke and mirrors. It is due more to a solid fundamental approach.

“We are good at serving and volleying,’’ Hunter said. “We also stay aggressive and are attacking most of the time. We try to make them play from a defensive standpoint, make them play out of their comfort zone.’’

Yates said he and his brother have been fortunate to do some traveling for tournaments.

“We have met a lot of good friends and we feel the whole experience will help us get to the next level, in college, and maybe even allow us to play professional doubles some day.’’

Among the colleges the players have looked at are Boise State, North Carolina, Rice, Baylor, Texas A&M and TCU. They also excel academically, with grade-point averages around 4.35 and several honors classes on their schedules.

“We have always been focused on academics,’’ Hunter said.

Yates was sidelined by a broken wrist in October. He was out a couple of months. X-rays did not reveal the fracture initially and he played in two tournaments before being tested again.

“I just tried to stay in shape, stay strong, tried to stay sharp mentally. You have to keep on top of it all the time, not just if you’re injured. You don’t want to get rusty.’’

The boys still enjoy snow skiing in the mountains around Taos. They were home-schooled as freshmen and attempted to play baseball, Hunter as a shortstop and Yates as a center fielder. But they decided not to continue that to pursue the game with which they are most familiar.

“Tennis is our passion,’’ Hunter said.

That is something that opponents likely will find out in the state tournament.