BATON ROUGE, La – LSU Alumnus and Liverpool, England native Neal Skupski received the honor of Rookie of the Year by WTT Friday.
Skupski, a last minute addition to the World Team Tennis league and the California Dream, became the best male mixed doubles player in the league with partner Anabel Medina Garrigues and a .575 winning percentage.
In just two weeks the duo grew to become the best mixed doubles team in the league. Although never having met before playing together for the California Dream, Skupski and Garrigues contributed to the team’s 9-5 record to get them to the playoffs.
Not only did Skupski have a great overall season this year with Garrigues but he also appeared alongside his brother Ken at Wimbledon. Although the duo lost first round, the Skupski’s put up a good fight against the No. 7 team in the world coming up short 6-4 in the 5th set.
“I took a lot of confidence from that match though because it showed me that I can play against the very best in the sport,” said Skupski.
Skupski was only added to the California Dream three days before the event started but knew this was a great opportunity.
“I didn’t hesitate to say yes as it would be an amazing experience of playing high quality opponents and also having the Bryan brothers and their coach on the team.”
The Bryan brothers, Mike and Bob, have won more doubles titles than anyone else in the league with 106 wins and 16 Men’s Double Grand Slam Titles. Skupski was also able to work with Coach David Macpherson who has coached the twins for the past 10 years.
“I have missed playing team tennis since leaving LSU and obviously my time in college helped me with the team format.”
During his time at LSU Skupski earned three All-American honors, two of those in doubles in 2009 and 2011.
“I learned a lot over the last couple of weeks, and I will gain confidence from beating players that are much higher ranked than me. I couldn’t have won the rookie of the year without the help of my teammates.”
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