| Horst Skoff | |
| Birth Date: | 22 August 1968 |
| Birth Place: | Klagenfurt, Austria |
| Death Place: | Hamburg, Germany |
| Turnedpro: | 1985 |
| Retired: | 1999 |
| Coach: | Günter Bresnik[1] Dumitru Hărădău |
| Plays: | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Careerprizemoney: | $1,651,858 |
| Singlesrecord: | 228–203 |
| Singlestitles: | 4 |
| Highestsinglesranking: | No. 18 (1 January 1990) |
| Australianopenresult: | 1R (1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995) |
| Frenchopenresult: | 2R (1987, 1989, 1991) |
| Wimbledonresult: | 2R (1991) |
| Usopenresult: | 2R (1991) |
| Othertournaments: | yes |
| Olympicsresult: | 1R (1988, 1992) |
| Doublesrecord: | 48–57 |
| Doublestitles: | 2 |
| Highestdoublesranking: | No. 70 (18 September 1989) |
| Frenchopendoublesresult: | 1R (1989) |
| Usopendoublesresult: | 1R (1988, 1989) |
| Team: | yes |
| Othertournamentsdoubles: | yes |
| Olympicsdoublesresult: | 2R (1988) |
| Daviscupresult: | 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.
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]
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1–0 | Athens, Greece | Clay | 6–3, 2–6, 6–2 | |||
| Win | 2–0 | Vienna, Austria | Carpet (i) | 4–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–2 | |||
| Loss | 2–1 | Hamburg, West Germany | Clay | 4–6, 1–6, 3–6 | |||
| Loss | 2–2 | Prague, Czechoslovakia | Clay | 5–7, 6–7 | |||
| Loss | 2–3 | Barcelona, Spain | Clay | 4–6, 4–6, 2–6 | |||
| Win | 3–3 | Geneva, Switzerland | Clay | 7–6(10–8), 7–6(7–4) | |||
| Loss | 3–4 | Vienna, Austria | Carpet (i) | 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 | Geneva, Switzerland | Clay | Thomas Muster | 2–6, 4–6 | ||
| Win | 4–6 | Båstad, Sweden | Clay | 7–5, 1–6, 6–0 | |||
| Loss | 4–7 | Båstad, Sweden | Clay | 4–6, 3–6 |
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1–0 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Clay | 3–6, 6–4, 6–3 | ||||
| Loss | 1–1 | May 1988 | Florence, Italy | Clay | 6–7, 4–6 | |||
| Loss | 1–2 | Prague, Czechoslovakia | Clay | 5–7, 6–7 | ||||
| Win | 2–2 | Prague, Czechoslovakia | Clay | 6–4, 6–4 | ||||
| Loss | 2–3 | Nice, France | Clay | 4–6, 6–7 | ||||
| Loss | 2–4 | Kitzbühel, Austria | Clay | 4–6, 6–4, 4–6 |
| Tournament | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | A | style=color:#767676 | 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 | |||
| style=text-align:left | 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 | bgcolor=yellow | SF | 3R | bgcolor=yellow | SF | QF | bgcolor=yellow | SF | 1R | A | 3R | 1R | A | A | A | A | 0 / 8 | 18–8 |
| Hamburg | A | A | 2R | 3R | bgcolor=thistle | 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 | ||||||
| style=text-align:left | 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 | bgcolor=yellow | SF | 1R | Z1 | 1R | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 5 | 21–13 | ||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| style=text-align:left | Titles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |||
| style=text-align:left | Finals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | |||
| style=text-align:left | 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% | ||||
| 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 | bgcolor=thistle | 2 | Davis Cup, Vienna, Austria | Clay (i) | QF | 6–7, 7–6, 1–6, 6–4, 9–7 | 35 | |
| 3. | Boris Becker | bgcolor=thistle | 2 | Hamburg, West Germany | Clay | bgcolor=yellow | 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 | bgcolor=thistle | Carpet (i) | bgcolor=yellow | 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 |