Horst Skoff

Horst Skoff
Country (sports) Austria
Born(1968-08-22)22 August 1968
Klagenfurt, Austria
Died7 June 2008(2008-06-07) (aged 39)
Hamburg, Germany
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro1985
Retired1999
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
CoachGünter Bresnik[1]
Dumitru Hărădău
Prize money$1,651,858
Singles
Career record228–203
Career titles4
Highest rankingNo. 18 (1 January 1990)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open1R (1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995)
French Open2R (1987, 1989, 1991)
Wimbledon2R (1991)
US Open2R (1991)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games1R (1988, 1992)
Doubles
Career record48–57
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 70 (18 September 1989)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open1R (1989)
US Open1R (1988, 1989)
Other doubles tournaments
Olympic Games2R (1988)
Team competitions
Davis CupSF (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 San Marino Open. From 1996–1999, due to his lower world ranking, Skoff played in challenger and futures tournaments. He retired in August 1999, after playing his last match in Sylt, Germany.

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 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Bruno Orešar 6–3, 2–6, 6–2
Win 2–0 Oct 1988 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) Austria Thomas Muster 4–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–2
Loss 2–1 May 1989 Hamburg, West Germany Clay Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 4–6, 1–6, 3–6
Loss 2–2 Aug 1989 Prague, Czechoslovakia Clay Uruguay Marcelo Filippini 5–7, 6–7
Loss 2–3 Sep 1989 Barcelona, Spain Clay Ecuador Andrés Gómez 4–6, 4–6, 2–6
Win 3–3 Sep 1990 Geneva, Switzerland Clay Spain Sergi Bruguera 7–6(10–8), 7–6(7–4)
Loss 3–4 Oct 1990 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) Sweden Anders Järryd 3–6, 3–6, 1–6
Loss 3–5 Jun 1991 Florence, Italy Clay Austria Thomas Muster 2–6, 7–6(7–2), 4–6
Loss 3–6 Sep 1991 Geneva, Switzerland Clay Austria Thomas Muster 2–6, 4–6
Win 4–6 Jul 1993 Båstad, Sweden Clay Haiti Ronald Agénor 7–5, 1–6, 6–0
Loss 4–7 Jul 1994 Båstad, Sweden Clay Germany 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 France Loïc Courteau Argentina Gustavo Luza
Argentina Gustavo Tiberti		 3–6, 6–4, 6–3
Loss 1–1 May 1988 Florence, Italy Clay Italy Claudio Pistolesi Argentina Javier Frana
Argentina Christian Miniussi		 6–7, 4–6
Loss 1–2 Aug 1988 Prague, Czechoslovakia Clay Austria Thomas Muster Czechoslovakia Petr Korda
Czechoslovakia Jaroslav Navrátil		 5–7, 6–7
Win 2–2 Aug 1989 Prague, Czechoslovakia Clay Spain Jordi Arrese Czechoslovakia Petr Korda
Czechoslovakia Tomáš Šmíd		 6–4, 6–4
Loss 2–3 Apr 1990 Nice, France Clay Uruguay Marcelo Filippini Argentina Alberto Mancini
France Yannick Noah		 4–6, 6–7
Loss 2–4 Jul 1990 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Spain Francisco Clavet Spain Javier Sánchez
France Eric Winogradsky		 4–6, 6–4, 4–6

Singles performance timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# P# DNQ A Z# PO G S B NMS NTI P NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
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. France Yannick Noah 4 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay 2R 3–6, 7–5, 6–2 48
1989
2. Sweden Mats Wilander 2 Davis Cup, Vienna, Austria Clay (i) QF 6–7, 7–6, 1–6, 6–4, 9–7 35
3. Germany Boris Becker 2 Hamburg, West Germany Clay SF 7–6, 6–2 31
1990
4. Ecuador Andrés Gómez 5 Stuttgart, West Germany Clay 3R 7–5, 0–6, 6–4 31
5. Austria Thomas Muster 8 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay QF 6–4, 6–2 27
6. Austria Thomas Muster 7 Vienna, Austria Carpet (i) SF 6–2, 7–6 29
1991
7. United States Andre Agassi 4 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay 2R 6–0, 6–7, 6–3 32
8. Sweden Jonas Svensson 10 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay QF 6–3, 6–3 32

References

  1. ^ a b John Barrett, ed. (1991). The International Tennis Federation : World of Tennis 1991. London: Collins Willow. p. 301. ISBN 9780002184038.
  2. ^ Franz Lidz (10 September 1990). "An Austrian not to be scoffed at". Sports Illustrated.
  3. ^ a b Harald Ottawa (7 April 2019). "Tennis: Die sechs Sternstunden des Horst Skoff". Kurier (in German).
  4. ^ "Als Horst Skoff Tennis-Geschichte schrieb". Wiener Zeitung (in German). 7 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Former player Horst Skoff dead". Montreal Gazette. 8 June 2008.
  6. ^ "Former tour player Skoff dies". The New York Times. 9 June 2008.