FAU’s Will Neuner And Richard Meade Win National Clay Court Open Division Doubles Tournament

Florida Atlantic men’s tennis players Will Neuner and Richard Meade competed in and won the National Clay Court Open Division doubles tournament. The rising seniors defeated the tournament’s number one seeded doubles pair in the finals to win the tournament and a coveted USTA Golden Ball trophy, the highest award given to amateur competitive players.

“This is a great accomplishment from these two rising seniors. They played doubles together a couple times throughout the year and I knew they were very capable of playing together,” said FAU men’s tennis head coach Ricardo Gonzalez.

“This should give Will and Rich plenty of confidence going into the season. It is nice to see our guys focused on their tennis by competing and trying to get better over the summer.”

Neuner and Meade, both of whom are taking summer classes, decided just days before the tournament began to enter the field. Meade a big contributor to the Owls’ success last season is glad the pair decided to play.

“It’s a great feeling to win this tournament, especially because as a junior player coming up in the U.S., winning a Gold Ball is every kids dream,” said Meade.

“So to accomplish a life long goal such as this while representing FAU makes it pretty special.”

Neuner and Meade won easily in the round of 32, winning their match 6-2, 6-1. The round of 16 provided a little more of a challenge but the duo won handily 6-4, 6-1. In the quarterfinals, Neuner and Meade took out the fourth seeded team and won 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. The semifinals proved to be another tough test going three sets before the Owls’ duo won 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. In the final Neuner and Meade faced the number one seeded team in the doubles draw and won 7-5, 6-4.