Cash Definitely Unlike Any Other Australian : Wimbledon Champion Says He Wouldn’t Fit In With His Country’s Former Greats

Pat Cash, a product of the liberated 1980s, doesn’t want to be compared with the Australians who built a tennis dynasty in the ‘50s, ‘60s and early ‘70s.

“I don’t think Harry Hopman would wear a diamond in his ear,” said Cash, who does wear one, in reference to the late Australian coach, a taskmaster who developed most of his country’s players 20 and 30 years ago.

“Tennis has become a bit more professional world. It’s a completely different life style now. It’s a full-time job.”

On Sunday, Cash became the first Australian man to win Wimbledon since John Newcombe took the title in 1971. Newcombe was the last in a long string of champions from Australia--although Ken Rosewall was the last to make the Wimbledon final, losing to American Jimmy Connors in 1974.

And while Cash said he had no heroes when he began playing tennis, the names of Newcombe, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Neale Fraser, Lew Hoad, Norman Brooks and Ashley Cooper, among others, gave him a thrill at Sunday night’s champions dinner.

Still, he said, things are different these days.

“I’m in a different era than those guys,” Cash said Monday, a day after his 7-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Czechoslovakia’s Ivan Lendl. “The way I play and the way I live is different.”

Of his victory in the world’s most prestigious tournament, Cash said:

“It really hasn’t sunk in properly yet. It started to sink in last night when I was sitting at the table with the trophy right in front of me. I was very, very proud of my name being on there with those great champions.”

Cash said he has received hundreds of letters and telegrams from Australia, including one from Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

“He said, ‘You did yourself and your country proud,’ ” Cash said. “He’s a big sports fan, and I’ve seen him at Davis Cup many times.”

Hawke called Monday “Cash Day,” but he didn’t declare it a public holiday as he did in 1983 when Australia II broke America’s 132-year winning streak in the America’s Cup.

Hawke, in the midst of a re-election campaign, was among an estimated 1 million Australians who stayed up until 3 a.m. Monday, Sydney time, to watch Cash’s victory over Lendl. Parties in Cash’s hometown of Melbourne continued through the night, including one for family and friends at his mother’s home.

Cash said that his telephone rang all night, but he had yet to speak with his mother because her telephone line was busy.

His father, Patrick; sister, Rene; girlfriend, Anne-Britt Christiansen; and coach, Ian Barclay, were at Centre Court for Cash’s victory.

They were part of a surprise ending when, after the final point, Cash clambered through the crowd and embraced his family and friends before returning to the court for the formal awards ceremony with the Duke and Duchess of Kent.

“We showed them,” Cash told Barclay.

Cash said his untraditional trip into the stands was not planned, but that he wanted to share the moment with his friends and family.

“I didn’t think about it at the time,” he said, “but later (fellow Australian player) Paul McNamee said, ‘It’s exactly like Crocodile Dundee, walking on everybody’s head.’

“To be honest, holding the cup up to photographers wasn’t what I wanted to do after winning. I just wanted to get off the court and see the people who meant the most to me.”

Cash said that although he expects his Wimbledon crown will bring him additional endorsements and other financial benefits, “Deep down, the money doesn’t really matter.

“The money doesn’t really draw the players. It’s Wimbledon,” Cash said. “Martina (Navratilova, the women’s champion) says the money you win is not important. If you win a title, then you want to win it again.”

Navratilova won a record sixth straight and a record-tying eighth overall women’s singles crown, defeating West Germany’s Steffi Graf, 7-5, 6-3, in Saturday’s final.