Pat Cash

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Pat Cash

Country	Australia
Residence	London, England
Date of birth	27 May 1965
Place of birth	Melbourne, Australia
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight	Template:Weight
Turned pro	1982
Retired	1997
Plays	Right
Career prize money	$1,950,345
Singles
Career record:	242 - 149
Career titles:	7
Highest ranking:	4 ( May 9, 1988)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	F
French Open	4r
Wimbledon	W
US Open	SF
Doubles
Career record:	174 - 110
Career titles:	12
Highest ranking:	6 ( August 13, 1984)
Infobox last updated on: July 18, 2006.

Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash (born May 27, 1965, in Melbourne, Victoria) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. He is best remembered for winning the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987.

Early career

Cash first came to the tennis world's attention as a brilliant junior player in the early 1980s. 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.

Cash 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.

In 1983, Cash was chosen to play for the Australian Davis Cup Team and 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 a thrilling five-set semi-final at the US Open by Ivan Lendl who claimed the fifth set in a tie-breaker.

Cash finished runner-up in the men's doubles competition at Wimbledon in both 1984 and 1985.

In 1986, Cash helped Australia win the Davis Cup again. Yet again they beat Sweden 3-2 in the final. And Cash again won the decisive singles rubber, coming back from two sets down against Mikael Pernfors to win in five sets.

In 1987, Cash reached his first Grand Slam singles final at the Australian Open, where he lost a tight five-setter to Stefan Edberg in the last Australian Open final to be played on grass courts at Kooyong.

Wimbledon victory

The crowning moment of Cash's career came at Wimbledon in 1987. Having beaten Mats Wilander in the quarter-finals and Jimmy Connors in the semi-finals, Cash moved through to the final where he faced the World No. 1 Ivan Lendl.

Cash seized his moment and beat Lendl in straight-sets 7-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Cash famously sealed a memorable 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. In doing so, he started a Wimbledon tradition which has been copied by many other champions in the years that followed.

Later career and retirement

In 1988, Cash reached the Australian Open final for the second consecutive year and faced another Swede in the form of Mats Wilander. It was the first men's singles final to be played at the new Flinders Park venue, and Wilander won in an epic five-set, four-and-a-half-hour encounter, taking the fifth set 8-6.

Cash played in his third Davis Cup final in 1990. This time Australia lost 3-2 in the final to the United States.

Cash continued to play on the circuit on-and-off through to the mid- 1990s. But a series of injuries to his Achilles' tendon, knees and back meant that he was never really able to recapture his best form after his triumphant Wimbledon-winning year in 1987. He won his last top-level singles title in 1990 in Hong Kong. His last doubles title came in 1996 at Pinehurst.

Since his retirement from the tour, Cash has resided mainly in London. He has coached top players including Greg Rusedski and Mark Philippoussis. He has also worked as a TV commentator. A father of four, Cash's main passion away from tennis and his family is playing the guitar. He donned the stage with INXS at the 2003 Australian Open, and has played with his own band at various events and festivals.

At an early age, Cash had two children out-of-wedlock with his girlfriend, the Norwegian model Anne-Britt Kristiansen. In 1990 Cash married Emily, the Neo-Geo Baseball champion, and they appeared together on the first series of the Gamesmaster television programme. They had two sons, twins Shannon and Jett, before divorcing.

In 1999 Cash checked into a rehabilitation clinic for treatment for his drug and alcohol addictions. He publicly stated he was depressed and considering suicide.

Trivia

• Cash won a total of 7 top-level singles and 12 tour doubles titles during his career.

• Cash's career-high world rankings were World No. 4 in singles and World No. 6 in doubles.

• During the 1987 Wimbledon men's singles final, while the match was in progress, a fan held up a sign reading "Cash is better than a Czech", a play on the nationality of the eventual runner-up (Ivan Lendl).

• The term "Pat Cash" has become Cockney rhyming slang for "slash", which is itself a British slang term for "urinate".

• Pat Cash has jammed on stage with members from bands such as Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, Rose Tattoo, Bad Company, The Cult, The Pretenders and more. He is thanked in the liner notes of the Iron Maiden albums Somewhere in Time (album) and Piece of Mind (Iron Maiden album).

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1987	Wimbledon	Ivan Lendl	7-6, 6-2, 7-5

Runner-ups (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1987	Australian Open	Stefan Edberg	6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3
1988	Australian Open	Mats Wilander	6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 6-1, 8-6

Singles titles (7)