The Open Era
United States · born San Diego, California, 1963 · right-handed · beat the defending champion Steffi Graf in the first round at Wimbledon in 1994
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7-5, 7-6
First-round win over Steffi Graf, the holder and No. 1 seed, at Wimbledon in 1994
10-8
Final set of her 1994 Wimbledon semi-final, lost to Conchita MartÃnez
4
Grass singles titles: Newport 1988, Eastbourne 1992, Birmingham 1993 and 1994
No. 9
Career-high singles ranking, 1988
10 and 33
Career singles and doubles titles
Lori McNeil was born in San Diego in 1963; her father, Charlie, played defensive back for the San Diego Chargers. The family moved to Houston, where she followed her mother into tennis and came up through the MacGregor Park youth programme under John Wilkerson, alongside her friend Zina Garrison. She played two years at Oklahoma State University and won the Big Eight singles title before turning professional in 1983.
A serve-and-volleyer, she rose from 93rd to 14th in 1986 and was voted the tour's most improved player. At the 1987 US Open she beat Chris Evert in the quarter-finals and took Steffi Graf to three sets in the semi-finals. She reached a career-high No. 9 in 1988, the year she also won the French Open mixed doubles with Jorge Lozano. She won 10 singles and 33 doubles titles, played Wightman Cup and Fed Cup for the United States, and retired in 2002.
She later coached Amanda Coetzer, worked as a USTA national coach and was an assistant coach to the US Olympic team in 2004.
| Wimbledon 1994 | Beat the holder and No. 1 seed Steffi Graf 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) on Centre Court in the first round, then reached the semi-finals, where she lost to the eventual champion Conchita MartÃnez 3-6, 6-2, 10-8. She was unseeded. In the same Championships she reached the mixed doubles final with T.J. Middleton, losing to Todd Woodbridge and Helena Suková 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 |
|---|---|
| Grass singles finals | Newport 1986: lost to Pam Shriver 6-4, 6-2. Newport 1988: beat Barbara Potter 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Eastbourne 1992: beat Linda Harvey-Wild 6-4, 6-4. Birmingham 1993: beat Zina Garrison-Jackson 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. Birmingham 1994: beat Garrison-Jackson 6-2, 6-2. Birmingham 1995: lost to Garrison-Jackson 6-3, 6-3 |
| Wimbledon 1986 | Reached the quarter-finals in her third Championships |
| Grass doubles | Newport with Gigi Fernández in 1987 and 1989; Birmingham with Rennae Stubbs in 1992 and with Martina Navratilova in 1993 |
| Birmingham | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Women's doubles | with Rennae Stubbs |
| 1993 | Women's doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| 1993 | Women's singles | |
| 1994 | Women's singles | |
| Newport, Rhode Island | ||
| 1987 | Women's doubles Virginia Slims of Newport | with Gigi Fernández |
| 1988 | Women's singles Virginia Slims of Newport | |
| 1989 | Women's doubles Virginia Slims of Newport | with Gigi Fernández |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 1992 | Women's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"You can't focus on the conditions, you just have to watch the ball that much more"
The person behind the player.
Houston
McNeil and Zina Garrison grew up together on the public courts of MacGregor Park in Houston, coached by John Wilkerson. They became best friends and doubles partners, and in 1986 met in McNeil's first tour final, at Tampa, which McNeil won.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, 10 November 19871987
McNeil was a pure serve-and-volleyer. At the 1987 US Open she came to the net 90 times against Chris Evert and 93 times against Steffi Graf, and she named John McEnroe as the model for her volleying.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, 10 November 1987Wimbledon 1994
Graf served for the second set at 5-3 and had a set point; McNeil saved it with an ace. In the tie-break Graf netted a smash and served a double fault. Afterwards Graf said: "It's very disappointing, and obviously it didn't help me that it started raining."
Source: Tennis MajorsOklahoma State
McNeil delayed her professional debut to spend two years at Oklahoma State, where she won the Big Eight singles title. She said college "helped me as a person."
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, 10 November 1987After the tour
After retiring McNeil coached Amanda Coetzer, worked as a USTA high-performance coach, and in 2006 received the WTA's Mentor Appreciation Award for two years mentoring Vera Zvonareva. She also set up a foundation for youth tennis in Bermuda.
Source: International Tennis Hall of Fame, Breaking BoundariesFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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