Alexander Volkov (tennis)

Alexander Vladimirovich Volkov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Влади́мирович Во́лков; 3 March 1967 – 19 October 2019[1]) was a Russian professional tennis player.

Alexander Volkov
Алекса́ндр Во́лков
Country (sports) Soviet Union
 Russia
Born(1967-03-03)3 March 1967
Kaliningrad, Soviet Union
Died19 October 2019(2019-10-19) (aged 52)
Kaliningrad, Russia
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro1988
Retired1998
PlaysLeft-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$3,362,786
Singles
Career record304–256
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 14 (23 August 1993)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open4R (1994)
French Open3R (1990, 1992)
Wimbledon4R (1987, 1990, 1991, 1994)
US OpenSF (1993)
Doubles
Career record34–57
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 136 (9 October 1989)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Wimbledon2R (1988)
US Open1R (1989)
Team competitions
Davis CupF (1994, 1995)

Tennis career

Volkov turned professional in 1988.

Volkov finished runner-up in three tournaments over 1989 and 1990; in the latter year he defeated World No. 1 Stefan Edberg in straight sets in the first round of the US Open. Volkov won his first top-level professional singles title in 1991 at Milan. At Wimbledon that year, he lost a close match in the fourth round to the eventual tournament champion Michael Stich, 4–6, 6–3, 7–5, 1–6, 7–5 despite winning the same number of games as Stich overall in the match, which hinged on a lucky shot hit by the German when he was trailing 3–5 in the final set. As Volkov served for the match, with the score at 30–15 in his favour, a shot hit by Stich was heading out, but the ball made contact with the inside edge of the top of the net post, sailed over Volkov's head, and landed inside the line, sparing the German from having to face two successive match-points during Volkov's service game, and bringing the scoreline instead to 30–30. Stich went on to take the game; and subsequently Volkov would not win another.[2]

Volkov was runner-up in three tournaments in 1992 and won his second title in 1993 in Auckland. Later in 1993, Volkov defeated Björn Borg in the first round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, in a match which proved to be the last of Borg's career. Volkov won the Kremlin Cup a year later in 1994 to claim his third (and final) career title. He reached one more final in 1997 in Shanghai.

His best Grand Slam singles performance was reaching the semifinals of the 1993 US Open, where he defeated Jonathan Stark, Kevin Ullyett, Amos Mansdorf, Chuck Adams and Thomas Muster before losing to Pete Sampras.

Volkov was part of the Russian team that reached the final of the Davis Cup in 1994. He won singles rubbers over Patrick Rafter of Australia in the first round and Michael Stich of Germany in the semifinals. However, he lost both his singles rubbers in the final as Russia was defeated by Sweden 4–1.

Volkov retired from the professional tour in 1998. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 14 in 1994. His career prize-money earnings totalled $3,362,786.

He was Marat Safin's coach before the duo split in July 2007.

Career singles finals

Wins (3–7)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–0)
ATP Championship Series (0–0)
ATP Tour (3–7)
Titles by surface
Hard (1–3)
Grass (0–1)
Clay (0–0)
Carpet (2–3)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Jun 1990 Rosmalen, Netherlands Grass Amos Mansdorf 3–6, 6–7
Loss 0–2 Oct 1990 Berlin, Germany Carpet (i) Ronald Agénor 6–4, 6–7, 4–6
Win 1–2 Feb 1991 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) Cristiano Caratti 6–1, 7–5
Loss 1–3 Jan 1992 Wellington, New Zealand Hard Jeff Tarango 1–6, 0–6, 3–6
Loss 1–4 Mar 1992 Rotterdam, Netherlands Carpet (i) Boris Becker 6–7, 6–4, 2–6
Loss 1–5 Apr 1992 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard Aaron Krickstein 4–6, 4–6
Win 2–5 Jan 1993 Auckland, New Zealand Hard MaliVai Washington 7–6, 6–4
Loss 2–6 Jan 1994 Adelaide, Australia Hard Yevgeny Kafelnikov 4–6, 3–6
Win 3–6 Nov 1994 Moscow, Russia Carpet (i) Chuck Adams 6–2, 6–4
Loss 3–7 Feb 1997 Shanghai, China Carpet (i) Ján Krošlák 2–6, 6–7

Singles performance timeline

Tournament19871988198919901991199219931994199519961997Career SRCareer Win-Loss
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open A 1R A 2R 1R 3R 3R 4R 1R 1R A 0 / 8 8-8
French Open A 1R A 3R 1R 3R 1R 2R 1R 1R 2R 0 / 9 6–9
Wimbledon 4R 2R 1R 4R 4R 3R 2R 4R 3R 3R 1R 0 / 11 20–11
U.S. Open 1R A 3R 2R 2R QF SF 1R 3R 3R 1R 0 / 10 17–10
Grand Slam SR 0 / 2 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 38 N/A
Annual Win-Loss 3–2 1–3 2–2 7–4 4–4 10–4 8–4 7–4 4–4 4–4 1–3 N/A 51–38

Top 10 wins

Season19871988198919901991199219931994199519961997Total
Wins0023151410017
# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score VR
1989
1. Miloslav Mečíř 8 Davis Cup, Prague, Czechoslovakia Carpet (i) RR 6–2, 6–7, 6–0 64
2. Jakob Hlasek 8 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) 2R 7–6, 7–5 61
1990
3. Tim Mayotte 10 Miami, USA Hard 2R 6–1, 6–4 100
4. Stefan Edberg 1 US Open, New York, USA Hard 1R 6–3, 7–6, 6–2 52
5. Emilio Sánchez 8 Stockholm, Sweden Carpet (i) 2R 7–5, 6–3 34
1991
6. Karel Nováček 9 Basel, Switzerland Hard (i) QF 6–1, 6–7, 6–3 24
1992
7. Karel Nováček 10 Milan, Italy Carpet (i) 1R 7–6, 7–6 25
8. Ivan Lendl 7 Stuttgart, Germany Carpet (i) 2R 7–6, 5–7, 6–1 28
9. Guy Forget 6 Stuttgart, Germany Carpet (i) QF 6–4, 6–4 28
10. Goran Ivanišević 5 US Open, New York, USA Hard 3R 6–4, 6–0, 6–3 20
11. Stefan Edberg 3 Tokyo, Japan Carpet (i) QF 6–3, 3–6, 7–5 17
1993
12. Pete Sampras 2 Indian Wells, United States Hard 3R 7–5, 6–4 22
1994
13. Michael Chang 8 Indian Wells, United States Hard 3R 6–4, 1–6, 6–3 18
14. Michael Stich 2 World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany Clay RR 6–4, 7–6 22
15. Michael Stich 2 Davis Cup, Hamburg, Germany Hard RR 7–5, 1–6, 7–6, 6–4 42
16. Alberto Berasategui 8 Ostrava, Czech Republic Carpet (i) 1R 7–6, 6–4 44
1995
17. Sergi Bruguera 4 Stuttgart, Germany Carpet (i) 1R 6–4, 2–3 ret. 40

References

  1. James Buddell (19 October 2019). "Alexander Volkov: 1967–2019". Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
  2. Philip, Robert (29 June 2007). "Recent recollection by Stich of the manner of his victory over Volkov". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
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