Justin O'Neal (born October 24, 1977) is an American former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. O'Neal, an Ohio native, played collegiate tennis for the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

and had to wait until the age of 30 to make his

ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...

main draw debut, having spent several years out of the game following graduation. His debut came at the

2008 Indianapolis Tennis Championships The 2008 Indianapolis Tennis Championships was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 21st edition of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, and was part of the International Series of the 2008 ATP Tour. It took pla ...

, which he qualified for with wins over Jason Marshall and

Brendan Evans Brendan Evans (born April 8, 1986) is an American retired professional tennis player. Tennis career Juniors On the junior circuit, Evans reached as high as No. 2 in the combined junior world rankings in July 2004, when he won the Australian O ...

. He was beaten in the first round by world number 77

Lu Yen-hsun Lu Yen-hsun (; born 14 August 1983) is a Taiwanese coach and former tennis player, who goes by the nickname Rendy Lu. He won the most titles on the ATP Challenger Tour in tennis history. His favorite surface is hardcourt, though several of his ...

in two tiebreak sets, failing to convert three set points in the second tiebreak. In 2013 he was announced as an inductee into the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

Athletics Hall of Fame. He was a three-time singles

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

n for the Gators and retired with a record tally for career singles wins.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:ONeal, Justin 1977 births Living people American male tennis players Florida Gators men's tennis players Tennis players from Ohio Sportspeople from Lima, Ohio