Former SA tennis star dies

Johannesburg - Former South African tennis star Jeff Sachs was rushing to catch a plane at JF Kennedy Airport in New York on Tuesday when he suffered a cardiac arrest and despite efforts to revive him died at the airport.

"He was my doubles partner for many years and a real fighter on the court," said Julian Krinsky, who partnered Sachs in tournaments in South Africa and overseas during the 1970s and 1980s and now heads a prominent tennis academy in the United States.

A lefthander with a powerful serve, Sachs hovered in the region of a top tenner in South Africa in a productive era that produced players of the calibre of Cliff Drysdale, Graydon Garner, Keith Brebnor, Mickey Styles, David Schneider and Rauty Krog.

"News of Jeff's death came out of the blue and is a shock to all of his tennis acquiantances," said Schneider, who was a team-mate of Sachs at Balfour Park when the Johannesburg north club were champions of the Southern Transvaal Premier League.