Alexander Volkov passed away today

"The son of an engineer started playing tennis as a right-hander at the age of 10, but five years later suffered an accident when he fell down a steep bank and broke his shoulder. Sidelined for six months, another accident soon forced Volkov to consider switching sports to ice hockey or football.

Volkov eventually returned to the Kaliningrad Tennis Club, at the request of a friend, and started to play left-handed – initially with two hands on his grip – and worked hard to develop a powerful serve. Aged 19, he reached the then-USSR National Championships final and turned pro in 1988, soon becoming a threat on all surfaces."

Essentially switched from R to L at age 16 and turned pro within 4 years. That's borderline ridiculous.

RIP Volky.
 
That's very sad news. Alas, quite a few players who I grew up watching died before their time:

Volkov (today, aged 52)
Golmard (in 2017, aged 43)
Doohan (ten days before Golmard and from the same cause, MND, aged 56)
Novotna (a few months after Golmard and Doohan, aged 49)
Baltacha (in 2014, aged 30)

I guess that, given the number of players on tour, it's to be expected that several will die early, but that seems like a lot to me.
 
helterskelter said:
That's very sad news. Alas, quite a few players who I grew up watching died before their time:

Volkov (today, aged 52)
Golmard (in 2017, aged 43)
Doohan (ten days before Golmard and from the same cause, MND, aged 56)
Novotna (a few months after Golmard and Doohan, aged 49)
Baltacha (in 2014, aged 30)

I guess that, given the number of players on tour, it's to be expected that several will die early, but that seems like a lot to me.
Click to expand...

Also Ken Flach(in maybe the most shocking way -bronchitis turning to sepsis because doctors missed signs)

Also Horst Skoff(assume you saw him play as well)

Boxers seem to have a much higher rate of death at an early age than tennis players(many from unnatural causes - car accidents, shootings etc)
 
Wow sad. I remember the us open semi they talked about the funny grips he and the other Russians were using at the time. He had an interesting game.
 
Moose Malloy said:
Also Ken Flach(in maybe the most shocking way -bronchitis turning to sepsis because doctors missed signs)

Also Horst Skoff(assume you saw him play as well)

Boxers seem to have a much higher rate of death at an early age than tennis players(many from unnatural causes - car accidents, shootings etc)
Click to expand...

I forgot about them. I do remember both as players. But I'm not 100% sure I'd ever noticed that Skoff died. Do you know whether he had an undiagnosed heart defect? If not, it seems surprising that a pro athlete would have a heart attack before the age of 40.
 
helterskelter said:
I forgot about them. I do remember both as players. But I'm not 100% sure I'd ever noticed that Skoff died. Do you know whether he had an undiagnosed heart defect? If not, it seems surprising that a pro athlete would have a heart attack before the age of 40.
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.
 
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Moose Malloy said:
His match with Stich at '91 W was just added recently. Very high quality match, check out the Stich netcord that was seemingly headed out until it hit the net at 5-3 in the fifth. Would've given Volkov match point. Volkov had barely lost any points on serve in the set until that game. And a great last game by Stich to break serve for a 7-5 victory
@abmk @buscemi @NonP

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Thanks. Point is at 2:59:10. Unless I'm mistaken, though, the point is at 5-4, 30-30, not 5-3.
 
A fine all-arounder who had his greatest success on faster surfaces but could indeed play everywhere. (I still remember being surprised a while back that he was ranked as high as 14th.) Some of you might recall that '92 poll @UnderratedSlam shared about a year ago where his peers rated his BH the 6th best around:

1992 Players Poll: Best Backhand.

As voted by ATP pros in 1992. Source: Germany's Tennis Magazin. 84 pros were given a sheet to fill out, for 12 different categories (all of which get their own separate threads here). Each pro could name one or two players per category: 3 points were awarded for the first picks, 2 points for...
tt.tennis-warehouse.com tt.tennis-warehouse.com

Anyhoo:

Moose Malloy said:
His match with Stich at '91 W was just added recently. Very high quality match, check out the Stich netcord that was seemingly headed out until it hit the net at 5-3 in the fifth. Would've given Volkov match point. Volkov had barely lost any points on serve in the set until that game. And a great last game by Stich to break serve for a 7-5 victory
@abmk @buscemi @NonP

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A slight correction: that fateful net cord occurred at 5-4 on Volkov's serve. I dig how he just shrugged it off and went on about his business.

That curt handshake, though... not so much. :happydevil:
 
Great talent - always loved to watch him play... superb feel and what a serve...
Luckily, he always entered the DC Tournament and his matches were always on the side courts where the bleachers were courtside. So close that I could not believe the access and proximity to world class court play... I do remember vividly, for sure, his tall companion at that time. She sat right at courtside...
May he find his peace...
 
Shocking and sad that he passed away so early... Another memory on him, 1994 Davis Cup Final, Russian vs Sweden at Moscow, Volkov played Edberg. Volkov led 2-0, then Edberg fought hard to come back. Just as the two were in intense battle, suddenly, President Yeltsin showed up in the stadium and caused quite a stir. Obviously it didn't help Volkov, he lost 2-3 to Edberg. Well, politicians prone to screw up things, even they don't intend to do so.

 
Did they ever confirm a cause of death? At the time, the chatter was substance abuse....alcohol. But did not see anything official.
I'll always remember his 1990 USO match vs. Edberg...1st rounder and he just gutted Stefan....got to see that one in-person.
Made me think that Edberg was a lost cause at the Open.
It was one thing to get mugged by Jimmy Connors in '89...that's a USO GOAT, after all, but Volkov?
Still, the guy hit some beautiful shots to make Stefan look like a piker.
And, as we all know, Stefan rebounded nicely in '91 and '92, much to my surprise
 
Mustard said:
Muster got his own back at the 1994 Australian Open. 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
Click to expand...
Yeah but it would have been Muster's only US Open semi appearance, and would have given his legacy a bit more ammo towards detractors who claim to this day that he was only good on clay.

Ultimately a fairly moot point though, because had he won that match, Sampras would have steamrolled him in the next round anyway, so he probably saved himself some humiliation.
 
Musterrific said:
Still pissed that he saved a match point against Muster in the US Open quarterfinal in '93...
Click to expand...
Same as me being still pissed by Muster saving MP against Boris at the 1995 MC final hehe?

More seriously I had NO idea that Volkov had died 4 years ago. I remember him well, how have I missed that? Sad story.
 
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