It was June 6, 2008, around 12:30 a.m. the emergency services called. A prostitute explained that Horst Skoff collapsed in a former gym after consuming narcotics. Skoff was resuscitated on site and died in hospital a day later. Due to the dubious circumstances and injuries to the face, third-party negligence in the death could not initially be ruled out. This is what the investigative files from back then show.
Skoff was a tennis star in Austria. He was only 39 years old. The official cause of death was later heart failure. But for some of his companions, his death remains inexplicable. Unanswered questions left room for speculation – the family still doesn’t rule out a murder.
Full throttle on the tennis court – and privately
People around him describe Skoff as a charming and colorful character, a dreamer and an extremely loyal friend. At the same time as someone who knew how to enjoy life despite his career. “Just as he gave full throttle on the tennis court, he often gave full throttle privately,” says Skoff’s former manager Walter Lutschinger.
Skoff, who was born in Klagenfurt in 1968 and grew up in the nearby countryside, made a name for himself in sport early on. At the age of 15 he won the Orange Bowl, the most important youth competition in the world. He moved to the Vienna performance center and trained with the best in the country. Soon he was one of them himself. But it didn’t seem easy with the ambitious talent.
Former coach Bresnik: “Particular maturity and fearlessness”
“Horst was actually always a difficult, difficult fellow,” remembers his former coach Günter Bresnik. The coach, who briefly coached Boris Becker and later the Austrian top player Dominic Thiem in his career, tells the NDR about Skoff’s early misconduct, but also an exceptionally gifted player who has a “special maturity and attitude” on the pitch, also “fearlessness ” showed.
Tennis popular in Austria thanks to Skoff
In his homeland, Skoff helped shape a tennis generation. At that time, Austria was promoted to the world group of the Davis Cup for the first time. More than 40,000 people came to the games in Vienna’s Prater Stadium.
Also because during this time, in addition to Skoff, with Thomas Muster and Alexander Antonitsch, two other talents made their international breakthrough.
Skoff was one of the most popular athletes in his country at the time. His former Davis Cup teammates did not want to comment on NDR. However, his former opponent Udo Riglewski describes the player Skoff as a “fighting machine”, a passionate player who “kept his heart on the field”.
Wins against Becker and Wilander
Skoff won four ATP tournaments in singles during his career and was number 18 in the world rankings at one point. At the tournament in Hamburg’s Rothenbaum in 1989, he beat three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker in the semifinals. In the Davis Cup, already tormented by cramps, he won a spectacular game against Sweden’s Mats Wilander, then number two in the world: six hours and four minutes, one of the longest matches in Davis Cup history.
Abrupt career end
But great successes and bitter defeats alternated steadily in his career. In public – also in contrast to his colleagues – the image of a man who enjoyed the Viennese nightlife fell on his feet in a sporty way.
The public delighted in Skoff’s affairs. Rumors of parties and binge drinking even before important games fueled the impression of wrong priorities. The once celebrated star, labeled as a failure.
It fitted into the picture when his career ended abruptly after an allegedly refused doping test with a lifetime ban – at the age of just 29. A lawsuit against the ban was successful. But Skoff couldn’t find his way back to his old strength. In 1999 his career finally came to an end.
Plans for a tennis youth center
The transition to a life without fame didn’t seem to come easily to Skoff. First he withdrew to Carinthia to work in agriculture. Then, without fortune, he tried his hand at coaching. He planned a tennis youth center. But the search for investors for his junior project turned out to be difficult. In 2008 he flew to Hamburg to meet potential donors.
Sadomaso party and drug excess
On the evening of June 5, Skoff landed in Hamburg. According to the police investigation files, he met the dominatrix Roberta and the prostitute Gabi at the airport. They went to a sadomasochistic party together, but soon moved on. They found a somewhat more private setting in an old sports studio on Hammer Steindamm.
The dominatrix Roberta, who breaks her silence in the NDR interview after many years, reports in detail on the following night. They would have dressed Skoff in women’s clothing and put pins on him. “I don’t think he knew exactly what his fetish was,” she says. “It was just about the fact that there was a woman or several women. It doesn’t matter. And he uses drugs and just has this kick.”
Cocaine “in larger quantities”
cocaine, she says. “In larger quantities. Well, I found a lot.” Sometime during the night he suffered an epileptic seizure. “He said, ‘Oh shit’ and he took it to heart. And then he collapsed.” In hindsight, Roberta says, at some point she probably should have said, “Now it’s over.” The fact that she didn’t do it haunts her to this day. For a long time, she says, she was only able to sleep with the light on.
Doctors fight for Skoff’s life
The ambulance came, took Skoff to the hospital. Doctors fought for Skoff’s life for almost two days. He did not make it. The family was told that Skoff had died of a heart attack, says his half-brother Bernhard Boschitz. The police nonetheless started an investigation.
In the end, the files said: “Mr. Skoff died very likely as a result of acute cocaine intoxication.” Examination of the hair revealed that Skoff “had abused cocaine extensively in the months leading up to his death.” There are no indications of third-party negligence.
His half-brother still has a hard time believing that. “I think this ability, which I always envied him, of not being afraid of anything or anyone,” he says, “I think that ultimately became his undoing.”