Alexander Volkov died at the age of 52
The former Russian world-class player Alexander Volkov died at the age of only 52. This was announced by the player organization ATP on Saturday afternoon.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Oct 19, 2019, 04:16 pm
Volkov stood in 1993 in the semifinals of the US Open, where he lost to eventual winner Pete Sampras. Overall, he won three tournaments on the ATP Tour.
Volkov first caught the eye of the US Open in 1990 when he beat Wimbledon winner Stefan Edberg in the first round and interrupted his winning streak of 21 matches.
Almost victory against Michael Stich in Wimbledon
A year later, he almost prevented Michael Stich's victory at the Wimbledon tournament in 1991: In the second round he lost 6: 4, 3: 6, 5: 7, 6: 1 and 5: 7. In the fifth set he had already led 5: 3. When Volkov served the match, a ball of stab seemed to fly out of the 30:15 score, but hit the inside of the net post and tumbled over Volkov into the field. Instead of two match points it was 30:30, stab succeeded then the break, Volkov brought no more game.
In 1993, Volkov won in Moscow with 6: 4, 3: 6, 7: 6 (7) against Björn Borg and thus ended his comeback efforts. In 1994 he was a member of the Russian Davis Cup team.
Overall, Volkov showed 17 wins against top 10 players, his best ranking was 14th place in August 1993. Against Boris Becker, he could never win in ten attempts.
After his retirement in 1997, he was a member of the coaching team of Marat Safin, when in 2000 the US Open and 2005 won the Australian Open.
Crazy: Volkov was actually right-handed, broke his shoulder at 15; another injury would have almost taken him to ice hockey or football. On the advice of a friend, he tried to play tennis with the left hand, first with both hands on the handle, and worked out a treacherous serve.
Volkov was known as a stoic player, who always exuded a certain indifference from the outside, but was immensely dangerous on the pitch.
What he died on October 19, is not yet known.