The amateur years
Soviet Union · born Moscow, 1948 · died 2025 · twice Wimbledon boys' champion
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2
Wimbledon boys' singles titles, 1965 and 1966
3
Wimbledon boys' finals in a row
11-9
Second set of the 1966 final
10
Davis Cup rubbers won, 1969 to 1974
Born in Moscow in 1948, Korotkov started playing at five at CSKA Moscow, where his first coach was Tamara Dubrovina. At 16 he won the Soviet men's doubles title with Vyacheslav Egorov, and as a junior he won Wimbledon twice and the French boys' title. In 1968 he won the exhibition mixed doubles at the Mexico City Olympics with Zaiga Jansone, plus two bronze medals, though tennis was not a full Olympic sport. He played Davis Cup for the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1974, won doubles gold at the 1973 Universiade and the Soviet singles title in 1977. In open events his best results were the fourth round of the Italian Open in 1969 and 1973. He coached from 1981 to 1996, entered the Russian Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014 and died in June 2025.
| Major singles titles | 2: Wimbledon (1965, 1966) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 1: Wimbledon (1964) |
| Wimbledon boys' finals | 1964: lost to Ismail El Shafei 6-2, 6-3. 1965: beat Georges Goven 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. 1966: beat Brian Fairlie 6-3, 11-9 |
| Wimbledon as a senior | Third round of the men's singles in 1968, the first open Championships; second round of the men's doubles in 1970 |
"He entered the history of our national tennis as one of the most decorated players of his time."
The person behind the player.
Wimbledon 1964
Aged 16, he reached the boys' final at his first attempt and lost to Ismail El Shafei of the United Arab Republic 6-2, 6-3. The same year he had already won the senior Soviet men's doubles title. He returned in 1965 and won the boys' title against Georges Goven of France.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 1966
Defending his title in the final against the New Zealander Brian Fairlie, he took the first set 6-3 and needed 20 games to close out the second, 11-9, in an era before tiebreaks. With his French boys' title, it made three junior majors in all.
Source: WikipediaMexico City 1968
Tennis was only a demonstration and exhibition sport at the 1968 Olympics. Korotkov won the exhibition mixed doubles with Zaiga Jansone and bronze medals in the men's singles and doubles, but he is not counted as an Olympic champion.
Source: WikipediaMoscow 1977
After years of reaching Soviet finals in doubles, he won the national singles championship in 1977, beating Vadim Borisov in the final. He was then 29 and had been in the Soviet top ten since 1966.
Source: WikipediaMoscow 2014
Nominated repeatedly for the Russian Tennis Hall of Fame, he lost the vote in turn to Sergei Likhachev, Teimuraz Kakulia and Andrej Potanin before he was finally inducted in 2014.
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