BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU alumnus Neal Skupski, who is currently holding an ATP doubles ranking of No. 9 in the world, has advanced to the Australian Open Men’s Doubles Championship. He has done so alongside Louisiana native Christian Harrison in only their second tournament played together.
Skupski and Harrison will face off against the home-crowd favorites, Aussie duo Jason Kubler/Marc Polmans, on Friday, Jan. 30, not before 9:30 p.m. CT.
The pair trained together at the LSU Tennis Complex just last month, strengthening chemistry ahead of their Grand Slam appearance.
When Skupski arrived as a freshman in 2008, he made history by being the first LSU freshman to achieve all-America status in tennis. He earned those honors four times over his collegiate career, split evenly between singles and doubles. He also served trouble for the rest of the conference, collecting five total All-SEC awards as a Tiger.
He is coached by his brother, Ken Skupski, who played for LSU from 2003 to 2007. He was named first team All-SEC all four years he was a Tiger. Notably, he has the most combined wins in his career in LSU history, with a 213-93 record.
On the pro tour, Skupski has reached a career-high ATP doubles rank of No. 1 in the world. The three-time major champion logged back-to-back Wimbledon titles in mixed doubles (2021, 2022). The following year, he returned to Centre Court to deliver his first Men’s Doubles title (2023). The former Tiger has now reached the final in three of the last four majors, looking to get his first in the land down under.
From Shreveport, Louisiana, Harrison’s family is deeply rooted in tennis. His aunt, Pattie Harrison, was a top player at LSU from 1983-86. He has played alongside his brother Ryan, who is a former French Open doubles champion. Additionally, his father, Pat Harrison, and grandfather, Jimmy Harrison, are both inducted into the Louisiana Tennis Association Hall of Fame. His Uncle Mark Harrison and three aunts, Pattie, Vickie, and Valerie Harrison, are also inducted into the Hall of Fame.
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