American tennis player, Ken Flach, Died at 54

  Sports

Kenneth Eliot Flach was born on May 24, 1963, and died on March 12, 2018.

He was a professional tennis player from the United States.

He was a doubles specialist, Flach won Four Grand Slam men’s doubles titles (two Wimbledon and two US Open), and two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles (Wimbledon and French Open).

Flach also won the men’s doubles Gold Medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, partnering Robert Seguso.

He reached the World No. 1 doubles ranking in 1985.

He played doubles on the US Davis Cup team from 1985–1991, compiling an 11–2 record. He was also a member of the US team which won the World Team Cup in 1985.

Throughout his career, he won 36 doubles titles (34 men’s doubles and 2 mixed doubles). His final career title was won in 1994 at Scottsdale, Arizona.

Before he went professional, Flach played tennis for Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, where he won the NCAA Division II singles championships in 1981, 1982 and 1983, and teamed-up with Seguso to reach the 1983 Division I doubles final.

Following his retirement from the professional tour, Flach devoted himself to coaching.

Flach guided Vanderbilt University to its first-ever NCAA tournament berth in 1999.

During 2003 Flach led the team to Vanderbilt’s first-ever NCAA championship finals appearance in any sport.

Flach has also played in seniors events, and he won the Wimbledon 35-and-over men’s doubles title in 1999 and 2000.

His wife was celebrity makeup artist Christina Flach (the former Cristina Friedman) in March of 2010.

He died on 12 March 2018, due to complications of pneumonia.

He passed away at 54 years old.