Background
He was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma and died in Vero Beach, Florida, United States.
He was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma and died in Vero Beach, Florida, United States.
Don McNeill graduated from Kenyon College in 1940, where he became a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Lambda chapter).
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 was the third player who managed to overcome a two-set deficit in the final of the United States. Championships after Maurice McLoughlin (1912) and Bill Tilden (1922). His title wins in 1940 earned McNeill the Number.
1 ranking in the United States of America at the end of the year.
There were no "official" amateur rankings during World World War II - McNeill reached as high as World Number. 7 in Gordon Lowe"s amateur rankings list in 1939.
During the war McNeill served as a lieutenant in the United States. Navy and was attached to the embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After the war McNeill decided to focus on his business career and played tournaments less frequently.
This time in the final he was too strong for Fred Kovaleski, defeating him 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 in 1965.
After his tennis career he became an advertising executive in New New York
McNeill died on November 28, 1996 in Vero Beach due to complications from pneumonia. Singles: 2 (2 titles)
Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)
Mixed: 1 (1 runner-up).