Alexander Vladimirovich Volkov ( ; 3 March 1967 – 19 October 2019) was a Russian professional tennis player.
Tennis career
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 4–5 in the final set. With Volkov serving for the match, at 5-4 and 30–30, Stich hit a seemingly-wide shot that caught the net and, instead of going out, looped over Volkov's head and back into play for a winner. What could have been 40-30, and match-point for Volkov, instead became a vital break-point opportunity for Stich at 30-40, that he immediately converted. Stich subsequently won the next two games and the match.
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.
ATP career finals
Singles: 11 (3 titles, 8 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series (0–0)ATP Championship Series (0–0)ATP World Series (3–8)Finals by surfaceHard (1–3)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–1)Carpet (2–4)Finals by settingOutdoors (1–4)Indoors (2–4)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1Milan, ItalyGrand PrixCarpet Boris Becker1–6, 2–6Loss0–2Rosmalen, NetherlandsWorld SeriesGrass Amos Mansdorf3–6, 6–7Loss0–3Berlin, GermanyWorld SeriesCarpet Ronald Agénor6–4, 4–6, 6–7(8–10)Win1–3Milan, ItalyWorld SeriesCarpet Cristiano Caratti6–1, 7–5Loss1–4Wellington, New ZealandWorld SeriesHard Jeff Tarango1–6, 0–6, 3–6Loss1–5Rotterdam, NetherlandsWorld SeriesCarpet Boris Becker6–7(9–11), 6–4, 2–6Loss1–6Johannesburg, South AfricaWorld SeriesHard Aaron Krickstein4–6, 4–6Win2–6Auckland, New ZealandWorld SeriesHard MaliVai Washington7–6(7–2), 6–4Loss2–7Adelaide, AustraliaWorld SeriesHard Yevgeny Kafelnikov4–6, 3–6Win3–7Moscow, RussiaWorld SeriesCarpet Chuck Adams6–2, 6–4Loss3–8Shanghai, ChinaWorld SeriesCarpet Ján Krošlák2–6, 6–7(2–7)
Doubles: 3 (3 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series (0–0)ATP Championship Series (0–0)ATP World Series (0–3)Finals by surfaceHard (0–2)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–1)Finals by settingOutdoors (0–2)Indoors (0–1)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss0–1Moscow, Soviet UnionWorld SeriesCarpet Andrey Cherkasov Eric Jelen Carl-Uwe Steeb4–6, 6–7Loss0–2Auckland, New ZealandWorld SeriesHard Alex Antonitsch Grant Connell Patrick Galbraith3–6, 6–7Loss0–3Long Island, United StatesWorld SeriesHard Hendrik Dreekmann Luke Jensen Murphy Jensen3–6, 6–7
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 1 (1–0) LegendATP Challenger (1–0)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (1–0)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Aachen, GermanyChallengerHard David Prinosil6–3, 7–6
Performance timeline
Singles Tournament198619871988198919901991199219931994199519961997SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenNHA1RA2R1R3R3R4R1R1RA0 / 88–8French OpenAA1RA3R1R3R1R2R1R1R2R0 / 96–9WimbledonQ14R2R1R4R4R3R2R4R3R3R1R0 / 1120–11US OpenA1RA3R2R2RQFSF1R3R3R1R0 / 1017–10Win–loss0–03–21–32–27–44–410–48–47–44–44–41–30 / 3851–38National RepresentationSummer OlympicsNH1RNot HeldANot HeldANH0 / 10–1Year-end ChampionshipsGrand Slam CupDid not qualify1R1RDid not qualify0 / 20–2ATP Masters SeriesIndian WellsAAA1R1R2RASFQFAAA0 / 58–5MiamiA1R3R3R4R2RA2R2RAAA0 / 77–7Monte CarloAAAAA3R2RAAAAA0 / 23–2HamburgAAA1R1R3R1RA1R1R1RQ10 / 72–7RomeAAAA2R2R1RA2R1RAA0 / 53–5CanadaAAAA1RAAQF1R1RAA0 / 42–4CincinnatiAA1R1RAA2R3R1RAAA0 / 53–5ParisA2RAA1RQF3R2R1R2RAA0 / 76–7Win–loss0–01–22–22–46–68–62–58–54–71–40–10–00 / 4234–42
Junior Grand Slam finals
Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss1985French OpenClay Vladimer Gabrichidze Petr Korda Cyril Suk6–4, 0–6, 5–7
Top 10 wins Season19871988198919901991199219931994199519961997TotalWins0023151410017
#PlayerRankEventSurfaceRdScore19891. Miloslav Mečíř8Davis Cup, Prague, CzechoslovakiaCarpet (i)RR6–2, 6–7, 6–0642. Jakob Hlasek8Milan, ItalyCarpet (i)2R7–6, 7–56119903. Tim Mayotte10Miami, USAHard2R6–1, 6–41004. Stefan Edberg1US Open, New York, USAHard1R6–3, 7–6, 6–2525. Emilio Sánchez8Stockholm, SwedenCarpet (i)2R7–5, 6–33419916. Karel Nováček9Basel, SwitzerlandHard (i)QF6–1, 6–7, 6–32419927. Karel Nováček10Milan, ItalyCarpet (i)1R7–6, 7–6258. Ivan Lendl7Stuttgart, GermanyCarpet (i)2R7–6, 5–7, 6–1289. Guy Forget6Stuttgart, GermanyCarpet (i)QF6–4, 6–42810. Goran Ivanišević5US Open, New York, USAHard3R6–4, 6–0, 6–32011. Stefan Edberg3Tokyo, JapanCarpet (i)QF6–3, 3–6, 7–517199312. Pete Sampras2Indian Wells, United StatesHard3R7–5, 6–422199413. Michael Chang8Indian Wells, United StatesHard3R6–4, 1–6, 6–31814. Michael Stich2World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, GermanyClayRR6–4, 7–62215. Michael Stich2Davis Cup, Hamburg, GermanyHardRR7–5, 1–6, 7–6, 6–44216. Alberto Berasategui8Ostrava, Czech RepublicCarpet (i)1R7–6, 6–444199517. Sergi Bruguera4Stuttgart, GermanyCarpet (i)1R6–4, 2–3 ret.40
References
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