Pat Cash has been around the tennis circuit for a long time and has seen a lot of things change.
Cash is a former Wimbledon champion, having won his only major title in 1987 after beating Ivan Lendl in the final.
At SW19 this year the now 60-year-old is a pundit and commentator, with Cash being outspoken about ongoings at Wimbledon.
Since retiring from professional tennis, Cash has also coached players and has seen how the sport has changed since he was competing.
Photo by Paul Cunningham/Corbis via Getty ImagesPat Cash says what players do not do as well in 2025 as they did in his era
Cash retired from singles in 1997, before officially waving goodbye to the sport as a whole in 2006.
There is often a big debate about how the courts at Wimbledon have changed, particularly since the surface was altered in 2002.
Serve and volleying was a key part of grass court tennis in the 20th century, something that Cash talked about when speaking on the Tennis Channel.
While Cash believes that tennis is currently in a good place, he claimed that players these days are not as good at volleying as they were in his era.
The former world number four also suggested that he thought the similar game styles in tennis made it less interesting for spectators and called for Wimbledon to change their all white clothing rule.
“The courts are generally really high bouncing,” began Cash. “The grass is sort of longer and thicker and the balls are sort of slower than my era, so it lends itself…and of course the most important thing I think is the strings the players have.
“And so it’s much easier, much easier to hit a passing shot off a good volley. I mean you have to hit an exceptional volley to be able to win a point these days. Though I do still think on a fast grass court, which we’re going to see because the summer’s been warm here, that attacking play is going to be really important to come to the net. So there’s still a part of it there.
“But we’ve just lost a variety of tennis, there’s a lot of players who do things really, really well, really well. You know they hit the ball incredibly well, hit the ball powerfully. They’re taller, they cover the court so well. You know the one part of the game that hasn’t improved is the volley, because you know we were experts at that, and you know I miss that part of it.
“But you know, when you’re seeing some great matches like we saw in the French Open and we have seen at Wimbledon over the years, [Roger] Federer and [Rafael] Nadal staying back mixing the play up, it’s hard to argue that the tennis isn’t better itself.
“I just think it’s the variety, it’s a bit… tends to be a bit bland. And I’ve been really against the all white look as well at Wimbledon, because I say look the players are playing all the same way, now they’re looking all exactly the same way. Add a bit of colour into it.”
Pat Cash explains how the physicality of players has changed in tennis
Cash was also asked about the changing physicality in tennis, as he spoke about how the build has changed alongside the game style.
He also joked that a lot of the players he used to compete with are now suffering for the constant serve and volley tactics.
“Yeah, look, it’s a sprint,” continued Cash. “We were doing, we’re doing lunging all the time and as you said, even if we’re serve volleying first and second serves, if we miss a first serve, we’ve still hit a serve and a sprint.
“So…you tended to find the players who were slightly stockier, bigger thighs…so in a way were more like sprinters. I think the players these days are more like middle distance runners. You’d see them, you know, the maybe you know 5,000 metre runner looks to them. Long limbs, cover the court well, can just do it for hours.
“Where you know in my days it was, you know, it was a sprint. Every single point was a sprint to the net, lunging constantly, going backwards and forwards. And so, you don’t see too many players in my era who walk straight (laughs). Bad backs or hip replacements or something. I mean, the conversation when we meet up with everybody else go, ‘Oh, what did you get replaced this week?’”
While the status of their partnership is yet to be confirmed, Cash has recently been seen in the coaching box of Gabriel Diallo, suggesting that he could be helping out the up-and-coming Canadian.