Horst Skoff

Horst Skoff
Country (sports)	Austria
Born	22 August 1968; Klagenfurt, Austria
Died	7 June 2008 (aged 39); Hamburg, Germany
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	1985
Retired	1999
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Coach	Günter Bresnik; Dumitru Hărădău
Prize money	$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 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	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, Czechoslovakia	Clay	Thomas Muster	Petr Korda Jaroslav Navrátil	5–7, 6–7
Win	2–2	Aug 1989	Prague, Czechoslovakia	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	Javier Sánchez 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.	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

^ ^a ^b John Barrett, ed. (1991). The International Tennis Federation : World of Tennis 1991. London: Collins Willow. p. 301. 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.
^ "Former player Horst Skoff dead". 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

[wot1991-1] John Barrett, ed. (1991). The International Tennis Federation : World of Tennis 1991. London: Collins Willow. p. 301. ISBN 9780002184038.

[si-2] Franz Lidz (10 September 1990). "An Austrian not to be scoffed at". Sports Illustrated.

[kurier-3] 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.

[montrealgazette-5] "Former player Horst Skoff dead". Montreal Gazette. 8 June 2008.

[nyt-6] "Former tour player Skoff dies". The New York Times. 9 June 2008.

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