Pat Cash

Cash is the son of Pat Cash Sr.., who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the 1950s.

Patrick Hart Cash (born 27 May 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player and coach.

Cash came to the tennis world's attention as a prominent and promising junior player in the early 1980s.

He was awarded a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport.

He was ranked the No. 1 junior player in the world in 1981.

In June 1982, Cash won the junior doubles title at the French Open partnering John Frawley.

In July he won the junior singles title at Wimbledon, and while partnering Frawley, he also won the junior doubles title at the same tournament.

In September, he won the junior singles title at the US Open, and while partnering Frawley, he was also the runner-up of the junior doubles at the same tournament.

Cash turned professional in late 1982 and won his first top-level singles title that year in Melbourne.

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 singles semifinals at both Wimbledon and the US Open.

He lost in three sets in the Wimbledon semifinals to John McEnroe and was defeated in the semifinals at the US Open by Ivan Lendl, who won their match in a fifth-set tiebreaker.

This day is regarded as one of the greatest days in US Open history because it featured the three set thriller women's final Chris Evert vs Martina Navratilova and a John McEnroe vs Jimmy Connors five set marathon semifinal – creating the day now known as 'Super Saturday'.

Cash finished the year in top 10 for the first time.

Cash was the runner-up in the doubles competition at Wimbledon in both 1984 with Paul McNamee and 1985 with John 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.

He reached the quarterfinals of the competition, and during the championship he started the now common tradition of throwing wristbands and headbands into the crowd.

Upon winning the 1987 singles title at Wimbledon, Cash climbed into the stands to celebrate, starting a tradition that has continued ever since.

1987 was a particularly strong year for Cash.

He reached five singles finals, of which two were Grand Slam finals.

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.

The crowning moment of Cash's career came in 1987 at Wimbledon.

Having already beaten Marcel Freeman, Paul McNamee, Michiel Schapers, Guy Forget, Mats Wilander in the quarterfinals and Jimmy Connors in the semifinals, Cash defeated the world No. 1, Ivan Lendl, in the final in straight sets.

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.

He thus started a Wimbledon tradition that has been followed by many other champions at Wimbledon and other Grand Slam tournaments since.

He only dropped one set during the entire tournament.

He finished the year ranked at No. 7.

He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4 in May 1988 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 6 in August 1988.

In 1988, Cash reached the Australian Open final for the second consecutive year and faced another Swede, Mats Wilander.

It was the first men's singles final played at the new Melbourne Park venue on hard court, and Wilander won in a four-and-a-half-hour encounter, taking the fifth set 8–6.

It was the first Grand Slam final in history to be played indoors after rain delays forced the closing of the roof midway through the match.

Cash also reached his career-high ranking of world No. 4 in May.

Coming in as the defending champion in 1988 at Wimbledon, Cash was seeded fourth and only dropped two sets (both during the second round) en route to quarterfinal, but his run came to an end when he lost to sixth seed and eventual runner-up Boris Becker.

It was the last time he reached the quarterfinals at a Grand Slam tournament in singles.

1988 was the last time Cash ended the year in the top 20, finishing the year ranked 20th, after having been ranked inside the top 10 from the start of the year until 21 November.

In April 1989, Cash ruptured his Achilles tendon at the Japan Open and was out of action until March 1990.