Horst Skoff
Country (sports) | $1,651,858 |
---|---|
Singles | |
Career record | 228–203 |
Career titles | 4 |
Highest ranking | No. 18 (1 January 1990) |
Grand Slam singles results | |
Australian Open | 1R (1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995) |
French Open | 2R (1987, 1989, 1991) |
Wimbledon | 2R (1991) |
US Open | 2R (1991) |
Other tournaments | |
Olympic Games | 1R (1988, 1992) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 48–57 |
Career titles | 2 |
Highest ranking | No. 70 (18 September 1989) |
Grand Slam doubles results | |
French Open | 1R (1989) |
US Open | 1R (1988, 1989) |
Other doubles tournaments | |
Olympic Games | 2R (1988) |
Team competitions | |
Davis Cup | SF (1990) |
Horst Skoff (22 August 1968 – 7 June 2008) was a professional tennis player from Austria, who won four tournaments at the top-level.
Biography
Skoff was born in Klagenfurt, Austria, and started playing tennis at age 6.[2] In 1984 he won the singles title at the 16-and-under category of the Orange Bowl.[1] He turned professional in 1985. Skoff won his first top-level singles title in 1988 at Athens. Over the course of his career he won four top-level singles titles and two tour doubles titles. His career-high rankings were world No. 18 in singles and world No. 70 in doubles. His career prize money totalled US$1,651,858.
Skoff played on Austria's Davis Cup team for nine years, compiling a 22–17 win–loss record. He helped the team reach the World Group semi-finals in 1990. Memorable Davis Cup rubbers which Skoff was involved in include a five-set win over world No. 2 Mats Wilander in the 1989 quarterfinal that lasted more than six hours; and a five-set loss to Michael Chang in the 1990 semifinal.[3][4]
Despite Skoff's relative success during his career of winning four top-level tournaments, his memorable Davis Cup moments, and reaching a career high world ranking of 18 in singles competition, he never managed to progress beyond the second round at any Grand Slam event.
Skoff played in his last top-level tournament in August 1995, at the
Skoff died on 7 June 2008 in Hamburg, Germany, following a heart attack at age 39.[3][5][6]
Career finals
Singles: 11 (4 wins, 7 losses)
Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1–0 | Jun 1988 | Athens, Greece | Clay | Bruno Orešar | 6–3, 2–6, 6–2 |
Win | 2–0 | Oct 1988 | Vienna, Austria | Carpet (i) | Thomas Muster | 4–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–2 |
Loss | 2–1 | May 1989 | Hamburg, West Germany | Clay | Ivan Lendl | 4–6, 1–6, 3–6 |
Loss | 2–2 | Aug 1989 | Prague, Czechoslovakia | Clay | Marcelo Filippini | 5–7, 6–7 |
Loss | 2–3 | Sep 1989 | Barcelona, Spain | Clay | Andrés Gómez | 4–6, 4–6, 2–6 |
Win | 3–3 | Sep 1990 | Geneva, Switzerland | Clay | Sergi Bruguera | 7–6(10–8), 7–6(7–4) |
Loss | 3–4 | Oct 1990 | Vienna, Austria | Carpet (i) | Anders Järryd | 3–6, 3–6, 1–6 |
Loss | 3–5 | Jun 1991 | Florence, Italy | Clay | Thomas Muster | 2–6, 7–6(7–2), 4–6 |
Loss | 3–6 | Sep 1991 | Geneva, Switzerland | Clay | Thomas Muster | 2–6, 4–6 |
Win | 4–6 | Jul 1993 | Båstad, Sweden | Clay | Ronald Agénor | 7–5, 1–6, 6–0 |
Loss | 4–7 | Jul 1994 | Båstad, Sweden | Clay | Bernd Karbacher | 4–6, 3–6 |
Doubles: 6 (2 wins, 4 losses)
Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1–0 | Nov 1986 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Clay | Loïc Courteau | Gustavo Luza Gustavo Tiberti |
3–6, 6–4, 6–3 |
Loss | 1–1 | May 1988 | Florence, Italy | Clay | Claudio Pistolesi | Javier Frana Christian Miniussi |
6–7, 4–6 |
Loss | 1–2 | Aug 1988 | Prague, Czechoslavakia | Clay | Thomas Muster | Petr Korda Jaroslav Navrátil |
5–7, 6–7 |
Win | 2–2 | Aug 1989 | Prague, Czechoslavakia | Clay | Jordi Arrese | Petr Korda Tomáš Šmíd |
6–4, 6–4 |
Loss | 2–3 | Apr 1990 | Nice, France | Clay | Marcelo Filippini | Alberto Mancini Yannick Noah |
4–6, 6–7 |
Loss | 2–4 | Jul 1990 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Clay | Francisco Clavet | Eric Winogradsky |
4–6, 6–4, 4–6 |
Singles performance timeline
W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | P# | DNQ | A | Z# | PO | G | S | B | NMS | NTI | P | NH |
Tournament | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | SR | W–L | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||
Australian Open | A | NH | A | 1R | A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 1R | Q1 | A | A | A | 0 / 5 | 0–5 | |
French Open | A | A | 2R | 1R | 2R | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | Q1 | A | A | Q3 | A | A | 0 / 6 | 3–6 | |
Wimbledon
|
A | A | 1R | 1R | 1R | A | 2R | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 5 | 1–5 | |
US Open | A | 1R | A | 1R | 1R | A | 2R | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 5 | 1–5 | |
Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 3–4 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 / 21 | 5–21 | |
Grand Prix Championship Series / Super 9 tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||
Indian Wells
|
Not GPCS | 1R | 1R | 2R | 3R | A | 1R | A | 1R | 2R | A | A | A | A | 0 / 7 | 4–7 | ||
Key Biscayne | A | A | A | 1R | 3R | 3R | 3R | 2R | A | A | 1R | A | A | A | A | 0 / 6 | 4–6 | |
Monte Carlo | A | A | SF | 3R | SF | QF | SF | 1R | A | 3R | 1R | A | A | A | A | 0 / 8 | 18–8 | |
Hamburg
|
A | A | 2R | 3R | F | 1R | 2R | 3R | A | A | 1R | Q1
|
A | A | A | 0 / 7 | 11–7 | |
Rome | A | A | 2R | 1R | 1R | A | 2R | 2R | A | A | A | Q2 | A | A | A | 0 / 5 | 3–5 | |
Stockholm | A | A | A | A | 3R | A | 1R | A | A | 1R | Not Super 9 | 0 / 3 | 1–3 | |||||
Paris | Not Grand Prix Champ. | 2R | 1R | 2R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 3 | 2–3 | ||||
Win–loss | 0–0 | 0–0 | 6–4 | 4–5 | 13–7 | 6–5 | 8–6 | 3–5 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0 / 39 | 43–39 | |
National representation | ||||||||||||||||||
Olympic Games | Not Held | 1R | Not Held | 1R | Not Held | A | Not Held | 0 / 2 | 0–2 | |||||||||
Davis Cup | A | Z1 | Z1 | Z1 | QF | SF | 1R | Z1 | 1R | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 5 | 21–13 | |
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||
Titles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
Finals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | ||
Overall win–loss | 1–2 | 16–8 | 23–23 | 28–19 | 38–23 | 34–25 | 34–30 | 22–25 | 19–19 | 11–16 | 2–13 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 228–203 | ||
Year-end ranking | 299 | 42 | 63 | 45 | 25 | 26 | 33 | 92 | 74 | 47 | 392 | 339 | 199 | 722 | 429 | 53% |
Top 10 wins
No. | Player | Rank | Tournament | Surface | Rd | Score | Skoff Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1987 | |||||||
1. | Yannick Noah | 4 | Monte Carlo, Monaco | Clay | 2R | 3–6, 7–5, 6–2 | 48 |
1989 | |||||||
2. | Mats Wilander | 2 | Davis Cup, Vienna, Austria | Clay (i) | QF | 6–7, 7–6, 1–6, 6–4, 9–7 | 35 |
3. | Boris Becker | 2 | Hamburg, West Germany | Clay | SF | 7–6, 6–2 | 31 |
1990 | |||||||
4. | Andrés Gómez | 5 | Stuttgart, West Germany | Clay | 3R | 7–5, 0–6, 6–4 | 31 |
5. | Thomas Muster | 8 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Clay | QF | 6–4, 6–2 | 27 |
6. | Thomas Muster | 7 | Vienna, Austria | Carpet (i) | SF | 6–2, 7–6 | 29 |
1991 | |||||||
7. | Andre Agassi | 4 | Monte Carlo, Monaco | Clay | 2R | 6–0, 6–7, 6–3 | 32 |
8. | Jonas Svensson | 10 | Monte Carlo, Monaco | Clay | QF | 6–3, 6–3 | 32 |
References
- ^ ISBN 9780002184038.
- ^ Franz Lidz (10 September 1990). "An Austrian not to be scoffed at". Sports Illustrated.
- ^ a b Harald Ottawa (7 April 2019). "Tennis: Die sechs Sternstunden des Horst Skoff". Kurier (in German).
- ^ "Als Horst Skoff Tennis-Geschichte schrieb". Wiener Zeitung (in German). 7 April 2018.
- Montreal Gazette. 8 June 2008.
- ^ "Former tour player Skoff dies". The New York Times. 9 June 2008.
External links
- Horst Skoff at the Association of Tennis Professionals
- Horst Skoff at the International Tennis Federation
- Horst Skoff at the Davis Cup
- Horst Skoff at Wimbledon
- Horst Skoff at Olympedia
- Horst Skoff at Olympics.com