Patrick Cash, one of Australia's tennis legends, is on the Straight Talk this week.

He is now a coach and commentator, and he has returned as an ambassador for the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open 2025. Pat reckons Victoria Park is a good facility, but it should be revamped to provide better facilities for players.

Check out the full transcript of TVB’s Straight Talk host Dr Eugene Chan’s interview with Pat Cash:

Chan: Good evening and welcome to Straight Talk. I'm Eugene Chan and our guest this evening is one of Australia's tennis legends, Pat Cash. Cash famously sealed a memorable victory at Wimbledon in 1987 by climbing up to the player’s box at Centre Court to celebrate with his family and coach. Pat is also a five-time Grand Slam finalist and a two-time Davis Cup winner for Australia. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2005. Of note, he claimed his last singles title here in Hong Kong in 1990 and is now a coach and commentator. He has returned as an ambassador for the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open 2025. Welcome, Pat! Thank you very much.

Cash: Thanks for having me.

Chan: Pat, welcome to Hong Kong.

Cash: Thanks.

Chan: So, you're here as our official tournament ambassador for the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open 2025, and you won that in 1990.

Cash: Yes.

Chan: It was like some 35 years ago, when the tournament was actually played in spring. Now it is sort of close to winter. Can you share your memories about, I mean, that tournament, because just now you told me in the makeup room that you remember matches that you've won?

Cash: Yes. I tend to remember the matches we win, of course. Yes it was, I mean, the Hong Kong tournament. It has always been on the tennis circuit. And it has now come back as we've seen the last couple of years. And here we have probably the strongest ATP tournament, and this one is leading into the Australian Open. So, a lot of players coming from Europe, around the world, are coming to Hong Kong this year to play the tournament this week. But it was always on the calendar. And in 1990, I had the opportunity to come back, to come here and play, and I won the title in singles and doubles. And yeah, that was sort of getting towards the end of my career. I had a lot of injuries throughout my career. So unfortunately, I didn't have a long career. It was sort of staggered, stuttered around the place. But, you know, I'm very happy to be back here, because I see Hong Kong as a place where tennis is developing. We've seen tennis booming in this area, in China, with the Chinese players doing so well. Now, the men players have finally come through, breaking through, and we've got a few really good men players playing the tournament this week. So, it's a very exciting time for Hong Kong tennis, and I think that we ought to try and keep the momentum going. And the WTA women's tournament, and now the men's tournament here is doing well. So, it's an exciting time for Hong Kong tennis.

Chan: Yes, Pat. I must bring you back also, back in a few years, back further than the 1990 Hong Kong Open. It's the Wimbledon that you won in 1987. I must confess I was watching you on the television live. I was in Adelaide at that particular time, and thank you for sharing a lot of memories we had. Can you tell us a bit more about that? Were you going in with a match knowing that you would beat Lendl, or you weren't too sure because you were ranked 11 you told me earlier?

Cash: Yeah. Well, you know, I had a few good years where I wasn't injured, and that was right in this, in the middle of my career there, I played in the Australian Open final. I lost to Stefan Edberg at Kooyong which was the last time they played at the ... which was sort of the spiritual home of Australian tennis. It had been the home there for 80 years, or something like that. And now they started building the new Melbourne Park, which we see now at the Australian Open, a massive facility, incredible. And I'd just won the Davis Cup before that. So, I had a good period there and I felt very confident going into the Wimbledon. But there was, there was this guy called Boris Becker, who was the two time champion. Ivan Lendl, I think, was the number one player in the world. Though he wasn't number one seed, but Lendl won everything. The only thing he hadn't won was Wimbledon, and I was determined to try and stop him there, and, you know, had a great, great tournament. Everything sort of went my way. I was fit. I was mentally tough. I played all these tough matches leading into the tournament. And, you know, one went through the tournament without, only losing one set. And, you know, there was, it was a great celebration for me, because I had a lot of injuries beforehand. So, I mentioned how I'd been having injuries around the place, and I was out for a good year or so before, before that. And I was a young father, so I had a lot of things happen in my life. I was only 22 but I felt like maybe I was 32 with all the experiences that I'd had and, so, the celebration was to thank my team and climb up through the stands.

Chan: Which is something I'd like to come to you, right at this next point, I want to discuss with you. I still want to ask you a very direct question, because I was watching it, because Ivan Lendl, for people who watch tennis at that particular time, although he's a great baseline player, he has all this passing shot with a backhand, and for him running passing shot … how did you beat him with just a volley? I mean, you're very, pretty much a serve-and-volley player, yeah, if he plays very well, there's nothing much you can do.

Cash: No.

Chan: ... but you won in straight sets. So, what did you do?

Cash: Well ... it was different then – the courts and the tennis was different then. I mean, everything advances, everything changes. Doesn't necessarily get better, but it changes. And the grass in those days was very fast court and so, it suited some, a player like myself or Boris Becker, John McEnroe, who were coming to the net, and Stefan Edberg were always coming to the net hitting volleys. The ball would skid off very fast. It was hard to hit passing shots. Now, technology has changed. The rackets have gotten more powerful. The strings have helped get more spin on the ball.

Chan: I see.

Cash: It's much harder to volley now or win a point while you're volleying. So, the grass suited my style. I suppose the players that play now are more similar to Lendl, and Mats Wilander, those sort of players that were in my era. They were baseline players, and now the technology is suited to that. So, we see a lot more rallies going on, not so much volleying. I suppose I'm a dinosaur. We've seen a couple, maybe Pat Rafter, Pete Sampras, who are probably the last great serve-and-volley, as Roger Federer, of course, could serve volley, but didn't do it as much as required. So, there's a certain skill that all the players need to learn, and it's a skill that maybe the players these days, even though they run fast, hit the ball hard, they don't quite have the same skill as players in my day.

Chan: Interesting, you used the term dinosaur because, anyway, you were a trendsetter, because I remember, not only your checkered headband, you also were the first to climb up the spectator stands to go and share this special moment with your friends and family. I can still remember you sort of trying to find your way through, no one ever has done it ever in that history, and everybody's doing it right now. So, was it a good idea? What do you think?

Cash: Well, it was something I wanted to do. I didn't really plan much. Planning the climb very well has become more famous than my win and the headband. And I suppose, you know, I was, you know, kind of a wild Australian guy, I like my rock and roll music. I was very hard to pigeonhole what sort of personality I was, you know, I like my hard rock music, ACDC.

Chan: Yes.

Cash: I was a family man. I had a, you know, a child as a young person. I was pretty fiery as well, and I thought I really wanted to do that celebration for my team. That was, that was important for me. And we didn't have teams in those days. Now you see the players, you know, the support box. There's four or five players in there, people in there, trainers and coaches and whatever, whoever else is in there. And then I didn't really have that, but they helped me overcome my injuries, helped me with my family. So, they were hugely important. I didn't plan it very well, the climb up to the stands, I got there eventually …

Chan: Yes, I remember.

Cash: ... and I got in a bit of trouble, because I held up the ceremony and also held up the Royal family member from coming down, to present the trophy. So, I got in a little bit of trouble, but I think most people ... I couldn't work out why nobody had done that before in sport. They'd climb up to thank their team, I mean, you see football teams, they jump on each other, but not into the crowd on thanking their family, but now they do. Maybe I was the first one stupid enough to do it.

Chan: You know, tennis has always been very, so called, a very noble and sort of class ...

Cash: It was, it was.

Chan: So, like all the 30 years, things have evolved, and especially when you come back to this time as an ambassador. How have you seen Hong Kong tennis change compared to the rest of the world?

Cash: Well, I think that, as I said, the area in itself is booming as far as tennis goes. We've seen tennis grow. I suppose it was back in my day when you were watching, there weren't that many TV networks, and so people were watching a lot of whatever sport that was on there, and tennis was a big sport. So, everybody watched sports. Now, they can turn on 100 different networks and watch things. So, I think tennis is bigger as a sport around the world, there's players from, you know, world number ones – from Poland, Tunisia, wherever around the world. Serbia would, you know, it wasn't even a Serbia back then, you know. So, it's certainly become bigger, and Hong Kong is a perfectly such a place to take advantage of that, right? We've seen some great, you know, the tournaments develop. I think probably the Bank of China Hong Kong Open should be a big tournament. It should be. And I think maybe if they develop Victoria Park a bit better, I think it hasn't changed much since when I first played there 40 years ago, and it's a great location. Players love …

Chan: Very convenient.

Cash: Very convenient. We walk in, we walk straight across there. The public love it. If we can modernize that facility … I think, they'll, they'll need that. Otherwise, they might get in a bit of trouble. But the momentum is here with Hong Kong tennis, Hong Kong sport, and you need to continue that. And this is why I'm here as an ambassador, to encourage people to play tennis, to pick up, even if it's paddle or pickleball, just get a racquetball in your hand and go out and have some fun. Victoria Park is an amazing facility. It probably needs to develop, but we want the Hong Kong tournament to keep growing, and it should be one of the big tournaments in the world

Chan: Alright, Pat. Let's take a short break now. But viewers stay with us. We will be right back.

Chan: Thank you for staying with us. Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash is with us this evening, as an official tournament ambassador for the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open 2025, and he has been sharing with us some of his personal memories and also his thoughts on tennis in Hong Kong. So, Pat, thank you for bringing back a lot of people's memories of the same Victoria Park that you played 30 in odd years ago, compared to what we had. Actually, is the court the same size as all the courts in the rest of the world?

Cash: Yeah, I mean the tennis courts, of course, are all the same size of regulation. But the court itself, the stadium is really nice. It is an intimate stadium, there is plenty of room for the players to run around the back there. It is intimate, it is a good size, uhh … the facilities could be better for a tournament, the locker rooms and various things like that. You sort of have to build them out with tents, but the players like it, love it here. I think they love the fact that the tournament is so friendly, it is very close, the hotel is just walking distance. And it is a great … Victoria Park is famous around the world, it is known as a great area, recreation area. And I think the players enjoy that. They obviously would like better facilities there, some more areas with gyms and things like that. But tennis has changed so much since in that department because it is not so much how hard the players work and how good athletes they were. The great players are always great athletes, always superfast, always super fit, talented. But it is the recovery that has changed in sport so much. The understanding of ice baths, supplements, various things like that, which is one of my passions. I am actually starting up a supplement range, a supplement company, Pat Cash Health, which involves all these sorts of stuff – rehabs, rehabilitation. So, the players spend a lot of time doing this, and they need extra help to do it. Hours and hours of rehabilitation, recovery, and that sort of stuff. So, the facility in Victoria Park doesn't have that and it needs that if it wants to be better.

Chan: I still remember, when I went to Victoria Park to watch tennis, I can remember Jimmy Connors, walking back in his back to the hotel like five, ten minutes away.

Cash: Yeah.

Chan: You mean this doesn't happen in other places in the rest of the world?

Cash: Well, back in those days, we didn't have enough room to stretch. I mean I used to do a lot of rehab and warmups, and I was one of the first people to do that. And I sort of went because of my injuries, I sort of went a bit obsessive with trying to be the best that I could be physically and mentally. And I used to spend a lot of hours doing all these little exercises, but there was no room to do it. So, pre-stretch – they used to say, back in the old days, if you watch the old movies, somebody were to do a bit of exercise, they used to go “ugh, ugh, okay, I am ready”, off you go and play. That is, they don't do that anymore. They are warming up for an hour beforehand and afterwards. There is the stretching, there is the baths, there is the, you know, the rehab, the nutrition, the ice packs on their arms and every, all that sort of stuff. You know, I sort of started bringing all that sort of stuff in, but now it has gone along a lot further. So, stretching for an hour after a match is normal now, stretching it after a match other than me, players used to look at me and go “what are you doing? You are stretching after a match? I am like “Yeah, I am stretching. It wasn’t done.”

Chan: I see.

Cash: So, Jimmy Connors, you know, you think of how good he was, and these players without all that rehab that they used to do that they do now, to be able to play that well and his career was so long, he was absolutely a phenomenal player. He is one of my heroes, but also one of my rivals. So, I have a healthy respect for that. You have to have a healthy respect for your opponents to say “Yeah, they are really good at doing that. I am going to watch that and see if I can get better.” And that is the secret of somebody who wants to be successful, isn’t it? “How can I get better?”

Chan: Right. Pat, I mean thank you for bringing back a lot of memories as you were talking. I think we spoke earlier that tennis … actually one of my question I asked Michael last week was how popular is tennis, is it number four, number five? He said it should be better. But when you look back at that time, tennis was always among people from Australia, England, the US, the Swedes maybe, even Switzerland maybe, Bjorn Borg. There weren't too many other countries, but now it looks like it has spread all over the world.

Cash: Yeah.

Chan: Even the Chinese players are doing pretty well. I mean we had Michael Chang from the US. So, what is it in Asia that you see that why we are now suddenly having an Olympic gold medalist in the female tennis recently?

Cash: Yeah, that is right. Well, I think the sport, as I said, the sport is great, it needs somebody … it is always helps to have a hero. If you have a hero, and certainly in China you had Li Na, who broke the mold and she became the Grand Slam champion, and people followed her. And I think that happened with Björn Borg, and then after Björn Borg, we saw all those Swedes, just one after the other, Edberg and Wilander and Bjorkman, all these great players, just one after the other after the other, and that often happens. In Australia it happened for many years. There was a bit of a gap, I came along, but since then there has been regular, Hewitt, Philippoussis, and Rafter, and Barty, and Stosur. So, that helps to have some heroes. And I think that Chinese men have realized, well, if the girls can do it, we can do it.

Chan: Right.

Cash: And you know, you have got a good young player, Coleman Wong, who is from Hong Kong. He trains over in Spain, which is the right thing to do, I think, to go over to Europe, which is the main hub of tennis these days. When I started, it was sort of US and Europe, half and half. Now it is 80 percent, 70 percent into Europe. And he is training at Rafael Nadal's Academy. So, there’s lots of great academies over there, and I think once we get the players … and Australians had to do that as well, we can't just stay in Australia, you have to get out to the rest of the world. It is such a big sport, there’s tournaments absolutely everywhere all over the world. And there’s a lot of good players out there, so you need the international experience. And I think the Chinese players, even though there’s a lot of tournaments in the mainland, and now in Hong Kong, they are now branching out and getting experience around the world. And some of the young … some of them are coming through very, very quickly. Jerry Shang, who is playing here, he is a young player, he has done well. But usually the Chinese players take a few years to get going because they need international experience. Now, it is not so much the case because they are already over there.

Chan: Right. So, in your opinion, the Asian physique or even our facilities should be able to produce more champions?

Cash: Absolutely. I mean some of the Chinese players … I always say if you are not tall, and this is the case often with Asian players, you have to be fast. And they are fast, there is no doubts about that, great agility. But there is some of the Chinese players, I am looking at them, they are way above me. I am meeting them, shaking my hand, hello. You know how big their basketballers are. So, the great thing about tennis is that you don't have to have one body type.

Chan: Right.

Cash: It is not like rowing, where you have to have long arms, or basketballers have to be tall. Tennis, you can be anything. And that is the great thing about tennis, you can be small, tall, big, whatever. So, there is no reason why we shouldn't see a lot more Asian champions coming through in the next years.

Chan: Right. Pat, I just mentioned earlier that we had Michael Chang here last weekend. And he was telling us that we had the ATP 250, which is right now happening this week, coming back after like 21 years. And we had the ladies in 125 and 250 as well. So, how do you see Hong Kong back on the map? Can we, Hong Kong be the hub again?

Cash: Well, I don't know if it will be THE hub, but it should be a hub. I mean, it is a perfect location, here they love the tennis here in Hong Kong, they have developed the facilities. And also I think people … it is a bit of a boom. And now the Chinese players are doing well, you have had interest in tennis, maybe there was a gap there for a few years where we lost some interest, but now the young people are wanting to play tennis. And now it is the time to grab that opportunity. Now is the time and continue to develop Hong Kong tennis, and make it a real hub for players to come through and develop the youngsters. And I am very excited, I am very honored to be here and help do that in some small way.

Chan: Right. Pat, you mentioned earlier we need idols, and people to follow. And I still remember the days of John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors playing here. This is exactly why we have like four out of the top 20 players in Hong Kong right now playing for the Open.

Cash: Yeah.

Chan: What else can we do to keep on attracting them to come apart from being in sort of the beginning of the season before warming up for the Australian Open? What else will you, what else will the players look for when they come to Hong Kong?

Cash: Well, I mean, tennis is seasonal, so the tournaments come through. Even in Australia, it is one of the big tennis countries in the world, and tennis only comes through for one month a year. So, Hong Kong, there’s different seasons that come through. The Australian Open is a great opportunity for Hong Kong tennis. There’s the Asian Tour, which is in around October. That’s another great opportunity for players to come through. So, there are opportunities to continue to be a hub for tennis, and that continually brings excitement to the public. And as you said, we have got four players that are in the top 20 playing this week in Hong Kong. And that is incredible, and other players have been in Grand Slam semi-finals and that sort of stuff. And we see some of the great young players too. So, it is an extremely strong tournament, and it is a great opportunity for people to come out and watch Chinese players, local players, and international players who are coming through. So, it is the women's tournament that won the tournament of the year?

Chan: Yes, yes.

Cash: Hong Kong won the tournament of the year, and that is pretty prestigious. I was talking to one of the players in, I live in London, as you know it is where I raised my family. I was talking to one of the top WTA players, and they said everybody says the Hong Kong tournament is the best, and she said, “I couldn't go, I was injured, but I was really upset because I really wanted to go and play the Hong Kong tournament.” That is what you want, that is what everybody wants …

Chan: Pat, I am going to ask you a very, very quick question, give me a brief answer. You are also a coach, you are also a sort of commentator, you see the whole tennis scene. So, what can Hong Kong learn from countries like Australia, where tennis is hugely popular?

Cash: Well, I think the most important thing, one of the most important things is to develop the coaching of high quality.

Chan: Right.

Cash: And it has always been my belief, being a coach on the tour for years, I had to change my playing technique and coaching ideas towards the end of my career. I was a Grand Slam champion, but I had to keep learning, so I have had to develop myself. So, things do change, and you need to stay ahead of the trend. There is no point you having a really good kid with bad technique.

Chan: Right.

Cash: He is never going to make it, whether he or she, they are never going to make it. So, to bring the top quality training early on the scene.

Chan: Pat, remember in Hong Kong, we have a talent scheme. Do you think about coming to Hong Kong and live and be a coach here?

Cash: I love it, I’ve come back after a long time.

Chan: Right. I am afraid that is all the time we have this evening and it has been an absolute pleasure having you on Straight Talk. And thank you for sharing your insights on Hong Kong tennis and for being such a strong advocate for the sport globally.

To our viewers, don't miss the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open 2025, where some of the world's best players will kick off an exciting season right here in Hong Kong.

Thank you for joining us and see you next week!