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Pat Cash
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Country | ![]() |
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Residence | London, United Kingdom |
Born | Melbourne, Australia |
27 May 1965
Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) |
Weight | 84 kg (190 lb; 13.2 st) |
Turned pro | 1982 |
Retired | 1997 |
Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
Prize money | $1,950,345 |
Singles | |
Career record | 242–149 (Grand Slam, ATP Tour, Grand Prix and WCT level, and Davis Cup) |
Career titles | 6 |
Highest ranking | No. 4 (9 May 1988) |
Grand Slam Singles results | |
Australian Open | F ( 1987, 1988) |
French Open | 4R ( 1988) |
Wimbledon | W ( 1987) |
US Open | SF ( 1984) |
Other tournaments | |
Tour Finals | RR ( 1987) |
WCT Finals | QF ( 1988) |
Olympic Games | 1R ( 1984, demonstration event) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 174–110 (Grand Slam, ATP Tour, Grand Prix and WCT level, and Davis Cup) |
Career titles | 12 |
Highest ranking | No. 6 (13 August 1984) |
Last updated on: November 5, 2012. |
Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash (born 27 May 1965) is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the Men's Singles title at Wimbledon in 1987. He won 6 titles and reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 4 in May 1988.
Early career
Cash first came to the tennis world's attention as a junior player in the early 1980s. He was awarded a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport. He was ranked the top junior player in the world in 1981, and in 1982 he won the junior titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open. He turned professional in 1982 and won his first top-level singles title that year in Melbourne.
Cash established a reputation on the tour as a hard-fighting serve-and-volleyer and for wearing his trademark black-and-white checked headband and his cross earring.
In 1983, Cash became the youngest player to play in a Davis Cup final. He won the decisive singles rubber against Joakim Nyström as Australia defeated Sweden 3–2 to claim the cup.
In 1984, Cash reached the men's singles semi-finals at both Wimbledon and the US Open. He lost in three sets in the Wimbledon semi-finals to John McEnroe and was defeated in the semi-finals at the US Open by Ivan Lendl, who won their match in a fifth set tiebreaker. This day regarded as the greatest day in US open history featured the 3 set thriller women's final Evert v Navratilova and a McEnroe v Connors 5 set marathon creating the day now known as 'Super Saturday'
Cash was the runner-up in the Men's Doubles competition at Wimbledon in both 1984 with McNamee and 1985 with Fitzgerald.
In 1986, he helped Australia regain the Davis Cup with a 3–2 victory over Sweden. Cash again won the decisive singles rubber, recovering from two sets down against Mikael Pernfors. Just prior to Wimbledon in 1986 Cash had an emergency appendix operation, but somehow managed to get through to the singles quarter finals. During the championship Cash was so pleased about his wins he started the now common tradition of throwing wristbands and, in his case headbands to the fans in the crowd causing a big frenzy.
In 1987, Cash reached his first Grand Slam singles final at the Australian Open, where he lost in five sets to Stefan Edberg. This was the last Australian Open played at Kooyong on a grass court.
Wimbledon victory
The crowning moment of Cash's career came at Wimbledon in 1987. Having already beaten Mats Wilander in the quarter-finals and Jimmy Connors in the semi-finals, Cash defeated the World Number 1, Ivan Lendl, in the final. Cash sealed the victory by climbing into the stands and up to the player's box at Centre Court, where he celebrated with his family, girlfriend, and coach, Ian Barclay. This started a Wimbledon tradition that has been followed by many other champions at Wimbledon and other Grand Slam tournaments since. He only lost one set during the entire tournament.
Later career and retirement
In 1988, Cash reached the Australian Open final for the second consecutive year and faced the Swede, Mats Wilander. It was the first men's singles final played at the new Melbourne Park venue, and Wilander won in a four-and-a-half-hour encounter, taking the fifth set 8–6. The first Grand Slam final in history to be playing indoors after rain delays forced the closing of the roof mid way through the match.
Cash played in his third Davis Cup final in 1990. This time, Australia lost 2–3 to the United States.
Cash continued to play on the circuit on-and-off through the mid-1990s. A series of back to back injuries to his Achilles tendon, knees, and back prevented him from recapturing his best form after winning Wimbledon in 1987. He won his last top-level singles title in 1990 in Hong Kong. His last doubles title came in 1996 at Pinehurst with Rafter.
For most of his career, Cash was coached by Melbourne born tennis coach, Ian Barclay.
Since his retirement from the tour, Cash has resided mainly in London. He is the host of CNN's tennis-focused magazine show Open Court, and has also worked as a TV colour commentator, primarily for the BBC. He has coached top players including Greg Rusedski and Mark Philippoussis. Cash opened a tennis academy on the Gold Coast of Australia and has coached numerous top ranked Australian juniors. He is opening academies in Ko Sumui, Thailand and in the Caribbean St Vincent, St Lucia and Dominican Republic as well.
Cash continues to be a draw card on both the ATP and Champions Cup legends tours having won the Hall of Fame event in Newport Rhode Island in 2008 and 2009.
Pat has won the over-45's Wimbledon doubles title with fellow Aussie Mark Woodforde in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Pat has now collected the junior, tour and legends Wimbledon titles. To date, he remains the only person to have done so.
Cash's main passion away from tennis and his family is playing the guitar. He took to the stage with INXS at his Australian Tennis Hall of Fame induction at the 2003 Australian Open and has played with his own band at various events and festivals.
Personal life
In his early twenties, Cash had two children with his then-girlfriend, the Norwegian model Anne-Britt Kristiansen. They have a son, Daniel (born 27 May 1986) & a daughter Mia (born 1988). From 1990 through 2002, Cash was married to Brazilian Emily Bendit. Their twin boys, Shannon and Jett, were born in 1994. Jett Cash is an up-and-coming tennis player.
Cash became a grandfather in May 2010 at the age of 44 when his daughter Mia gave birth to a baby girl. One of the more unusual titles was Sexiest Grandfather of the Year by an independent poll in a UK women's magazine.
He continues to support various charities including GOAL (3rd world development and relief organisation) The Orchid Appeal (men's cancer) and founded Australia's best known environmental charity Planet Ark with mate Jon Dee. The two of them having moved on from Planet Ark have set up Do Something! an organisation that helps Australians to create social and environmental change. http://dosomething.net.au/
Major finals
Grand Slam finals
Singles: 3 finals (1 title, 2 runner-ups)
Doubles 2 finals (runners up 2)
Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score in the final |
Runner-up | 1987 | Australian Open | Grass | ![]() |
3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 7–5, 3–6 |
Winner | 1987 | Wimbledon | Grass | ![]() |
7–6(5), 6–2, 7–5 |
Runner-up | 1988 | Australian Open | Hard | ![]() |
3–6, 7–6(3), 6–3, 1–6, 6–8 |
Doubles Wimbledon 84 final w McNamee lost to McEnroe, Fleming
Wimbledon 85 final w Fitzgerald lost to Taroczy, Gunthardt
Singles (6)
Doubles (12)
- 1982 – Adelaide
- 1983 – Sydney Outdoor, Brisbane
- 1984 – Aix-En-Provence, Houston, Houston WCT, London
- 1985 – Las Vegas
- 1987 – Montreal
- 1990 – Sydney Outdoor, Hong Kong
- 1996 – Pinehurst
Senior tour (4)
- 2000 – London Masters, U.K. (Blackrock Tour of Champions)
- 2001 – Graz, Austria (Blackrock Tour of Champions)
- 2008 – Champions Cup Newport, U.S.A. ( Outback Champions Tour)
- 2009 – Champions Cup Newport, U.S.A. ( Outback Champions Tour)
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
Tournament | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | Career Win–Loss |
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Grand Slam tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||
Australian Open | 1R | QF | 4R | QF | A | NH | F | F | 4R | A | 3R | 2R | A | A | 1R | A | 1R | 26–11 | |
French Open | A | A | 1R | 1R | A | A | 1R | 4R | A | A | 2R | A | A | A | A | A | A | 4–5 | |
Wimbledon | A | A | 4R | SF | 2R | QF | W | QF | A | 4R | 2R | 2R | A | A | 1R | A | 1R | 29–10 | |
US Open | A | 1R | 3R | SF | A | 1R | 1R | A | A | 3R | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | 9–7 |
NH = tournament not held.
A = did not participate in the tournament.