Steve Johnson’s tennis story is inseparable from family: the father who coached him and died weeks after his first title, the USC dynasty he anchored, and the woman who has been beside him since 2012. Fans who followed “Stevie” through four ATP titles and an Olympic bronze ask one question most: who is Steve Johnson’s wife?
Her name is Kendall Bateman Johnson — a former USC volleyball star, a photographer, and the steady center of one of American tennis’s favorite families. This is their story: the 2018 wedding with half the ATP tour in attendance, their daughter, and the career she has anchored.
Quick Answer
Steve Johnson’s wife is Kendall Bateman Johnson, a former USC women’s volleyball setter and professional photographer. The couple, together since 2012, married on April 21, 2018, at Maravilla Gardens in Camarillo, California — one week after Johnson defended his Houston title — with John Isner, Sam Querrey and Denis Kudla as groomsmen. They welcomed a daughter in December 2020.
TL;DR: Steve Johnson married Kendall Bateman in April 2018; the ex-USC volleyball star is now a photographer and mom to their daughter.
Quick Facts
| Full Name | Steve Johnson |
| Date of Birth | December 24, 1989 |
| Birthplace | Orange, California, USA |
| Wife | Kendall Bateman Johnson (m. April 21, 2018) |
| Together Since | 2012 |
| Children | One daughter (b. December 2020) |
| Occupation | Tennis player (former ATP pro) |
| Career High | ATP No. 21 |
| Highlights | 4 ATP titles; Rio 2016 doubles bronze |
Who Is Steve Johnson’s Wife?
According to Tennis.com’s report of the wedding, Steve Johnson married Kendall Bateman on Saturday, April 21, 2018, at Maravilla Gardens in Camarillo, Southern California. Kendall is no sideline spouse: she was a standout setter for the USC Trojans women’s volleyball team — her 4,510 career assists rank among the program’s best — and holds a master’s degree in communication management from USC. She has since built a career as a photographer, working under the name Kendall Johnson Photo.
The couple had been together since 2012 — six years of the tour’s grind, the minor-league motels and the breakthroughs — before marrying. Johnson calls her the person he admires most: in an ATP Q&A he said she “has stuck with me on this tour, through some tough times and some great times — I owe a lot to her.”
The Wedding: A Title Defense, Then the Altar
The timing was pure Steve Johnson. In April 2018 he defended his U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston — beating Tennys Sandgren in an emotional final weeks before the wedding, in the first tournament title defense of his career — then flew home to marry Kendall the following Saturday. His groomsmen were a roll call of American tennis: John Isner, Sam Querrey and Denis Kudla, his USC teammates and tour brothers.
The wedding doubled as tennis news because the guests kept making it: it was at the Johnson wedding that Isner’s wife Madison announced the couple was expecting a baby girl. Johnson had proposed with the Houston trophy barely packed; the sport’s tight American generation — the USC and UCLA classes who grew up together — all stood in one garden in Camarillo.
Kendall’s Role in the Hardest Year
To understand the marriage, rewind to May 2017. Johnson had just won his first Houston title — the dream he shared with his father and coach, Steve Johnson Sr. Twenty-five days later, his father died in his sleep. Johnson learned the news at LAX, about to board a flight to Rome; Kendall, then his fiancée, drove with him in silence to his parents’ home in Orange. He has said plainly that he could not have survived that season without her.
When he defended the Houston title in 2018 — the week before the wedding — he broke down at the net as Sandgren whispered that their fathers were watching together. Kendall was in the stands, as she had been for every chapter: the 72-match USC win streak, the Rio bronze, the grief, the comeback.
Family Life and Steve Johnson in 2026
The Johnsons welcomed their daughter in December 2020 — Johnson joked about graduating from “baby whisperer” (a nickname earned minding Sam Querrey’s son on tour flights) to full-time girl dad. The couple is based in Southern California, where Kendall’s photography business and family roots anchor the post-tennis chapter; Johnson has said his dream job after playing is coaching at USC, the program where he and Kendall both starred.
His career ledger — four ATP singles titles, a career-high No. 21, Olympic doubles bronze with Jack Sock in 2016, and more than $7 million in prize money — belongs to them both by his accounting. For more tennis and sports profiles, see our stories on George Foreman’s net worth and Bo Jackson’s net worth.
Two Trojans: The USC Love Story Underneath
The detail that makes the Johnsons a genuinely USC story is that both halves starred there — Steve closing his college career on a 72-match singles win streak with two NCAA team titles, Kendall setting for a volleyball program that lived in the national top ten. They met in the orbit of Heritage Hall, dated from 2012 as his tour career launched, and built the relationship across the specific geography of the ATP calendar: she in Los Angeles classrooms and studios, he in challengers and tour stops on four continents.
That parallel-athlete foundation shows in how they talk about each other — her understanding of performance pressure is a competitor’s, not a spectator’s, and his admiration quotes return constantly to her steadiness in the profession’s chaos. When Johnson says the person he admires most is his wife, it lands differently knowing she once ran an offense in front of thousands herself.
Kendall Johnson Photo: The Second Career
Kendall’s photography grew from hobby to business across the marriage — weddings, portraits and family work shot with an athlete’s eye for candid motion, shared through her Kendall Johnson Photo brand. The business also became the couple’s bridge to life beyond the tour: clients across Southern California, a creative identity entirely her own, and eventually the practiced hand behind the family’s own milestone photos.
It is a fitting second act for the household: his career was photographed for a decade; hers now holds the camera. Between her studio work, their daughter, and Steve’s stated dream of one day coaching USC tennis, the Johnsons’ post-tour life is already fully built — the rare tennis family whose next chapter started before the last one ended.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Steve Johnson’s wife?
Steve Johnson’s wife is Kendall Bateman Johnson, a former USC volleyball setter and professional photographer; they married on April 21, 2018.
When did Steve Johnson get married?
He married Kendall Bateman on April 21, 2018, at Maravilla Gardens in Camarillo, California — one week after defending his Houston ATP title.
Do Steve Johnson and Kendall have children?
Yes — they welcomed a daughter in December 2020.
What does Kendall Bateman Johnson do?
She is a former USC Trojans volleyball player (4,510 career assists) with a master’s in communication management, now working as a photographer.
How long have Steve Johnson and Kendall been together?
They have been a couple since 2012 and married since 2018.
Conclusion
Steve Johnson’s wife is Kendall Bateman Johnson — USC volleyball royalty, photographer, and his partner since 2012 through titles, an Olympic medal and the hardest year of his life. Their 2018 wedding, staged one week after a title defense, remains American tennis’s favorite love story.