Kenneth Eliot Flach (May 24, 1963 – March 12, 2018) was an American doubles world No. 1

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. He won four

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

men's doubles titles (two

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

and two US Open), and two mixed doubles titles (Wimbledon and the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

). He also won the men's doubles gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, partnering

Robert Seguso Robert Arthur Seguso (born May 1, 1963) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. A doubles specialist, he won four Grand Slam men's doubles titles (two Wimbledon, one French Open and one US Open). He also won the men's dou ...

. Flach reached the world No. 1 doubles ranking in 1985.

Early life

Kenneth Eliot Flach was born on May 24, 1963, in St. Louis and grew up in nearby Kirkwood, Missouri. Before turning professional, Flach played tennis for

Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

, where he won the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division II singles championships in 1981, 1982 and 1983, and teamed with Seguso to reach the 1983 Division I doubles final. Flach married his first wife, model Sandra Freeman, in September 1986 and had four children together, Dylan, Madison, Noah and Hannah.

Career

Flach played doubles on the US

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

team from 1985 to 1991, compiling an 11–2 record. He was also a member of the US team which won the

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

in 1985. During his career, Flach won 36 doubles titles (34 men's doubles and 2 mixed doubles). His final career title was won in 1994 at Scottsdale, Arizona. At the US Open 1987 (second round) he won the longest fifth set tie-break to this day, 17-15 over

Darren Cahill Darren Cahill (born 2 October 1965) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Australia. In addition, Cahill is a tennis analyst for the Grand Slam events on the US sports network ESPN and a coach with the Adidas Player Devel ...

. Following his retirement from the professional tour in 1996, Flach devoted himself to coaching. He guided

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

to its first NCAA tournament berth in 1999. In 2003, he led the team to Vanderbilt's first NCAA championship finals appearance in any sport. He had also played in seniors events, and won the Wimbledon 35-and-over men's doubles title in 1999 and 2000. In 2010, after moving to California, he married makeup entrepreneur Christina Friedman, and became the director of tennis at Novato's Rolling Hills Club.

Death

In early March 2018, Flach became ill with bronchitis after playing 36 holes of golf. Ken passed away shortly after falling ill with his sister, brothers and 4 children by his side.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Men's doubles: 6 (4 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Mixed doubles: 2 (2 titles)

Olympic men's doubles final

Doubles finals (58)

Wins (34)

Doubles performance timeline

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flach, Ken 1963 births 2018 deaths American male tennis players American tennis coaches French Open champions Olympic gold medalists for the United States in tennis SIU Edwardsville Cougars men's tennis players Tennis players from St. Louis Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics US Open (tennis) champions Wimbledon champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles People from Alpharetta, Georgia Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Tennis people from Georgia (U.S. state) Sportspeople from Fulton County, Georgia Vanderbilt Commodores men's tennis coaches ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players