Don McNeill (tennis player)

Don McNeill

McNeill (right) with Chilean tennis player Andrés Hammersley in 1942.
Full name	William Donald McNeill
Country (sports)	United States
Born	(1918-04-30)April 30, 1918 Chickasha, USA
Died	November 28, 1996(1996-11-28) (aged 78) Vero Beach, USA
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
College	Kenyon College
Int. Tennis HoF	1965 (member page)
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 4 (1940, Karoly Mazak)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open	W (1939)
Wimbledon	2R (1939)
US Open	W (1940)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
French Open	W (1939)
US Open	W (1944)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
US Open	F (1944)

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

McNeill won his first major title in 1938 when he defeated Frank Bowden at the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, played at the Seventh Regiment Armory in Manhattan, New York.

In 1939, McNeill became the second American to win the French Championships singles title (after Don Budge) when he defeated compatriot Bobby Riggs 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 went on to win 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 Bobby Riggs 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. In September he won his second Grand Slam title when he defeated Riggs in the final of the U.S. National Championships after being down two sets to love. He was the third player who managed to overcome a two-set deficit in the final of the U.S. Championships after Maurice McLoughlin (1912) and Bill Tilden (1922).