Pat Cash was a fantastic tennis player, and has transferred his skills into punditry with ease.
The Australian finished his singles career in 1997, having reached the final of two Australian Opens and won Wimbledon.
That, unsurprisingly, marked his crowning achievement in the game, and has since been more commonly seen beside a court, microphone in hand.
Keen to voice his views on the sport that gave him so much, earlier this year, he gave one impassioned interview where he rated the current state of tennis in his homeland.
When Pat Cash rated the state of Australian tennis in early 2025
Speaking to The Guardian, his conversation read more like a rally cry from his compatriots to see sense on a big topic.
He implored the plethora of Australian coaching talent and the roster of elite ex-professionals to come together and focus on developing their home nation rather than travelling elsewhere to nurture overseas talent.
Darren Cahill remains the standout example of this, having coached Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Simona Halep before joining up with the former world number one Jannik Sinner.
Cash, speaking about this phenomenon, noted: “That’s been the disappointing thing.
“We have some really good ex-players, champions … you’ve got Roger Rasheed, you’ve got Wally Masur, you’ve got Darren Cahill, you’ve got me, you’ve got Mark Philippoussis. And none of us, all the best players in the modern generation, none of us are being used by Tennis Australia.
“If Tennis Australia brought all these guys in, can you imagine the success we would have? Paul McNamee is another one. He works with foreign players. Peter McNamara was the same. I think we’ve missed plenty of opportunities to actually improve players more rapidly.”
Then, touching on the state of the players Australia has at its disposal, Cash continued: “The big thing is, where’s our next champion?
Will Alex de Minaur ever crack the ATP top five?
“Where’s the next real superstar? I worked with Popyrin a little bit, early in his career, his first Wimbledon, when he got through and qualified, but by and large, there’s so much coaching talent in this, in Australian tennis, that is being used by other nations.
“There’s Craig O’Shannessy, who’s one of the best stats guys, he’s working for the Italian Federation. So all this talent has been used by other people. Why isn’t it being used by Australian players? We’ve got some very good players, de Minaur’s obviously the one who’s top 10, but that influence can make a difference between a good player, which we’ve got, and great players.”
Who are the top-rated Australian tennis players?
Unsurprisingly, for both men and women, Alex de Minaur is the highest-ranked Australian by some distance.
He currently sits seventh in the live rankings and boasts a career high of sixth too; there’s real hope that De Minaur can bridge the gap between him and Jannik Sinner in 2026 too, after his battling performance at the ATP Finals.
However, the next best star is on the WTA, with youngster Maya Joint having burst onto the scene in 2025 and finished the year ranked 32nd.
She is just five places ahead of Daria Kasatkina, who changed her allegiance from Russian to Australian earlier this year.
That is about where it ends for the women though, with Ajla Tomjlanovic the next closest, sitting all the way down in 83rd.
Avoid saying the same tennis player as me quiz
On the ATP Tour, however, Masters 1000 winner Alexei Popyrin currently sits 54th in the world rankings, some distance away from Adam Walton and Aleksandar Vukic in 78th and 82nd, respectively.
Nick Kyrgios, who remains absent from the competitive circuit after a string of injuries, is currently 666th in the world.
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