William Donald McNeill (April 30, 1918 – November 28, 1996) was an American

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. He was born in

Chickasha, Oklahoma Chickasha is a city in and the county seat of Grady County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 16,036 at the 2010 census. Chickasha is home to the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. The city is named for and strongly connecte ...

and died in Vero Beach, Florida.

Biography

Don McNeill graduated from Kenyon College in 1940, where he became a member of

Delta Kappa Epsilon Delta Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as ''DKE'' or ''Deke'', is one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active colonies across North America. It was founded at Yale College in 1844 by fiftee ...

. McNeill won his first major title in 1938 when he defeated Frank Bowden at the

U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships The U.S. National Indoor Championships was a tennis tournament that was last held at the Racquet Club of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The event was played on indoor hard courts and usually took place in February. For much of i ...

, played at the

Seventh Regiment Armory The Seventh Regiment Armory, also known as Park Avenue Armory, is a historic National Guard armory building located at 643 Park Avenue in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building is a brick and stone structure b ...

in Manhattan, New York. In 1939, McNeill became the second American to win the

French Championships The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

singles title (after

Don Budge John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female, and still the only American male — to win the Grand Slam, and to win all four Grand Slam e ...

) when he defeated compatriot

Bobby Riggs Robert Larimore Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was an American tennis champion who was the World No. 1 amateur in 1939 and World No. 1 professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December ...

in the final in straight sets. Afterwards he played at Wimbledon, the only time he participated, and lost to Franjo Kukuljevic in the second round of the singles, reached the third round in the doubles and the quarterfinal in the mixed doubles. He won the All England Plate, a tennis competition held at the Wimbledon Championships, which consisted of players who were defeated in the first or second rounds of the singles competition. In June 1940, McNeill beat

to win the singles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Chicago. In August that year he also won the Southampton Invitational tournament after a victory in the final over Frank Kovacs. His run continued two weeks later when he won the invitational tournament at the

Newport Casino The Newport Casino is an athletic complex and recreation center located at 180-200 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island in the Bellevue Avenue/Casino Historic District. Built in 1879–1881 by '' New York Herald'' publisher James Gordo ...

. In September he won his second

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

title when he defeated Riggs in the final of the U.S. National Championships after being down two sets to love. There were several bad line calls that went against Riggs in this match. McNeill was the third player who managed to overcome a two-set deficit in the final of the U.S. Championships after

Maurice McLoughlin Maurice Evans McLoughlin (January 7, 1890 – December 10, 1957) was an American tennis player. Known for his powerful serve, overhead, and volley, McLoughlin was the first male tennis champion from the western United States. Biography He was ...

(1912) and

Bill Tilden William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American tennis player. Tilden was the world No. 1 amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No. 1 professional b ...

(1922). His title wins in 1940 earned McNeill the No. 1 ranking in the U.S. at the end of the year. There were no "official" amateur rankings during World War II - McNeill reached as high as World No. 7 in Gordon Lowe's amateur rankings list in 1939.United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). ''Official Encyclopedia of Tennis'' (First Edition), p. 425. During the war McNeill served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and was attached to the embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. While stationed there he won the Argentinian Championships in 1942 and defended the title successfully in November 1943, defeating

Pancho Segura Francisco Olegario Segura (June 20, 1921 – November 18, 2017), better known as Pancho "Segoo" Segura, was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but m ...

in the final. After the war, McNeill focused on his business career and played tournaments less frequently. In 1950, McNeill won his second U.S. Indoor title, 12 years after winning his first, defeating Fred Kovaleski in four sets. Additionally he had been a runner-up in 1940 and 1946. Both Allison Danzig, in a ''New York Times'' article in 1936, and Pancho Segura, in a telephone interview in 2014, described McNeill's game as consisting of very heavily topspun drives off both wings, and Segura was of the opinion that McNeill didn't turn pro because there was really very little money in professional tennis then. He was elected to the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...

in 1965. After his tennis career, he became an advertising executive in New York. McNeill died on November 28, 1996 in Vero Beach, Florida due to complications from pneumonia.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 (2 titles)

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Mixed: 1 (1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McNeill, Don 1918 births 1996 deaths American male tennis players French Championships (tennis) champions Kenyon College alumni People from Chickasha, Oklahoma International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Tennis people from Oklahoma United States National champions (tennis) Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles