Mel Purcell - Women's Tennis Coach - Murray State University Athletics

Mel Purcell

At Murray State

Coach Mel Purcell continues to be one of the greatest ambassadors for Murray State University.
With an association that dates back to when his father Bennie was the Racer tennis coach, Mel was a youthful can’t miss kid, that grew into a world ranked professional and then later a respected head coach of the MSU tennis program.
The 2017-18 school year is Purcell’s 22nd as a member of the staff in the MSU athletics department.
Purcell has transitioned to becoming MSU's director of tennis emeritus after the men's program was discontinued after the 2015-16 season.
He has a wealth of experience and knowledge about the game that was first nurtured by his father and Murray State legend Bennie Purcell.

Coaching Career

Became head coach of MSU men’s tennis in 1996, following his MSU Hall-of-Fame father, Bennie Purcell.
The courts that MSU plays on are named after the elder Purcell who coached tennis at Murray State for 28 seasons (1969-96), earning 11 Ohio Valley Conference championships along the way. All of Racer Nation was saddened when Bennie passed away in February 2016 at age 89.
Mel spent five seasons as assistant coach under his father Bennie.
Guided the Racers to back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Championships in 2001 and 2002. Purcell was named
OVC Coach of the Year in both seasons.
In 2001, the Racers claimed the OVC Tournament championship and earned a bid to the program’s first NCAA Tournament.
In 2002, the squad went undefeated (5-0) in the OVC and captured Murray State’s 19th OVC Championship.
He Coached Nikola Aracic who was a three-time OVC Player of the year (1999, 2001, 2002) and Fadi Zamjaoui who was a two-time winner of the award (2006, 2007).

Amateur Playing Career

Considered the greatest tennis player to come out of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
As a pre-teen, Purcell was beating opponents that were nearly twice his age.
A 1977 graduate of Murray High School, Purcell captured the Kentucky High School championship as a senior.
Attended the University of Memphis, where he won the Metro Conference singles and doubles titles in 1977.
Transferred to Tennessee, where he became an All-American in 1980 and captured two Southeastern Conference titles.
As a senior with the Vols, Purcell teamed with Rodney Harmon to win the NCAA doubles championship.
While at Tennessee, Purcell rose to the No. 1 ranking of players under 21 in the world.

Professional Playing Career

Purcell turned professional and quickly climbed into the top 40 in the world rankings on his way to becoming the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Rookie of the Year in 1981.
In 1981, he scored three tournament wins at Tel Aviv, Atlanta and Tampa.
Purcell was ranked in the top 30 in the world in five of his 10 seasons as a professional and reached his highest ranking of No. 17 in November 1980.
In 1983, He reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon before falling in four sets to eventual runner-up Chris Lewis.
Along with partner Vince Van Patton, Purcell made it to the doubles quarterfinals of the French Open 1983.
In 1984, he won the doubles title with Stan Smith in Vienna, Austria.
Mel played Wimbledon six times (1981-85, 87), the US Open 10 times (1978–87) and the French Open six times (1981–84, 1987–88).
Along the way, Purcell spent 10 years on the world stage and won 190 career matches including 28 grand slam matches.
He had wins over former world number ones including Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Ille Nastase, John McEnroe and Guillermo Vilas.
Purcell has played and been a television analyst on the Jimmy Connors Champions Tour.