Venus and Serena Williams, John and Patrick McEnroe, Bob and Mike Bryan — these three groups of siblings have enjoyed great success in the world of tennis. LSU men’s tennis player Neal Skupski may be destined to one day join the ranks of these tennis greats alongside his brother and former LSU All-American Ken Skupski. But that will have to wait as Neal, in his second year at LSU, has a long road ahead of him to live up to his brother’s highly decorated legacy. “I have set a pretty high bench mark for Neal … but I don’t want Neal to try to compare himself all the time to me. I want him to create his own history at LSU,” said the 26-year-old Ken Skuspski in an e-mail. The left-handed Ken Skupski, who recently knocked off the No. 1 Bryan brothers in doubles at the AEGON Championships in London, was a three-time All-American during his career as a Tiger from 2003-07, collecting 104 singles victories — good enough for No. 4 on LSU’s career win list. Neal Skupski has seemingly picked up where Ken left off, slowly becoming one of the top players in the country. After finishing the 2008-09 campaign ranked No. 4 in the country in doubles with former All-American Michael Venus, Neal Skupski has shown he has the ability to produce similar results in singles. The 6-foot-1-inch Skupski picked up two wins against ranked opponents last weekend at the ITA All-American Championships, including a straight-set win against No. 5 Guillermo Gomez of Georgia Tech.  ”Last year, I was mainly seen as a doubles player, but this year, I want to be seen as both a singles and doubles player,” Neal Skupski said.Though Ken is 6 years older than Neal, the two grew up playing with each other on the court, rather than against each other. The Skupski’s home in Liverpool, England, had a country club right behind the house, where Neal started hitting tennis balls when he was 3 years old. Ken came to LSU when he was 20 and was the primary reason Neal dons purple and gold now. “I wanted my family to come visit me while I was at LSU just to see what it was all about,” said Ken Skupski, who is ranked No. 71 on the ATP Tour in doubles with teammate Colin Fleming. “Neal came on that trip and wasn’t too keen on college until he saw what it was all about.” Neal, who flew under the radar of college coaches because of his lack of junior tennis experience in England, fell into LSU coach Jeff Brown’s lap. Brown said Neal’s lack of experience before becoming a Tiger was the only thing holding him back from reaching his potential.”His upside is what you’re always watching,” Brown said. “His talent level is so good, and he’s starting to realize it.” LSU assistant coach Danny Bryan agreed Neal’s potential is sky high as long as he believes in his ability. “He might think he needs to do more than he really has to,” said Bryan, who played alongside Ken for four years at LSU. “And that just comes with experience of playing a lot of matches and developing confidence.” With Venus and former Tiger James Clusky graduated, Skupski has his eye on being the Tigers’ No. 1 player and has displayed a desire to be LSU’s new leader. Even without Venus by his side this year, Skupski has already established a comfortable relationship with his new partner, junior Sebastian Carlsson, as the duo earned a No. 18 preseason ITA ranking in doubles.Brown and Danny Bryan found Skupski on Monday in the team room watching film from last weekend’s tournament, taking notes on what he needs to work on. Ken described his younger brother as “Mr. Cool” on the court, a complete opposite of himself. Ken was known for his fiery and aggressive on-court persona during his stint at LSU. While Neal is calm and composed on the court, it is his energy to open matches that impresses Brown the most. “There has been a lot of matches that he’s been able to build big leads in,” Brown said. “A lot of times, he’ll be done with the first set before the other guy wakes up.” Neal attributes his fast starts to the “pride of being a Tiger.” “It builds me up, and that’s when I work hard for the team,” he said. “If you don’t want to work hard for the team, then there’s no point being here.”As far as what Neal Skupski’s legacy will be at LSU is still undetermined.He hopes to be as good as Ken was, although Ken joked he never sees Neal being able to achieve 104 wins.  But, Ken will wait patiently the next two and a half years, waiting for his baby brother to turn pro. “One day, we will have success on the same court,” he said. “I would really enjoy playing with him on the tour whenever he finishes his time at LSU.”—————Contact Sean Isabella at [email protected]