Rhett Purcell (born 6 February 1996) is a New Zealand tennis player, although he represented the United Kingdom through parental descent from the start of his junior career in 2010 until mid-October 2017.

[1] Purcell's first experience of professional tennis was being given a wild card into qualifying for the 2014 ASB Classic in Auckland, where he beat Eric Sock (elder brother of Jack) in the first round, but lost heavily to subsequent French Open doubles winner Michael Venus in the second.

Stepping up to Grade 1 just a few weeks later, he and fellow New Zealander Alex Klintcharov won the doubles title at the 25th Mitsubishi-Lancer International in Manila, and he was the beaten finalist in the singles.

Purcell was again given a wild card entry into qualifying for the ASB Classic in Auckland, losing in the first round to fellow New Zealander Rubin Statham.

He did, however, change his representative nationality back to New Zealand, his first tournament under that flag being an ATP Challenger event at Traralgon in Victoria, Australia, on 21 October.

Taking a much longer break than in previous years, Purcell began his new season in Australia in March, but it wasn't until he returned to China that he tasted more tournament success.

Given a wild card into the doubles with Cameron Norrie, they drew third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Henri Kontinen first up, and lost in straight sets.