The Pat Cash vs Ivan Lendl Brawl In Monte Carlo

By Scoop Malinowski

The recent purchase of The Autobiography Of Pat Cash: Uncovered has been a fantastic read. Pat Cash is one of the rare authentic voices in pro tennis, fearless to speak his mind. The former 1987 Wimbledon champion and two-time Davis Cup winner reveals a lot of inside info about pro tennis and his own Hall of Fame quality career (1982-1997 singles/2006 doubles; best ranking was no. 4; six ATP singles titles, 12 in doubles. Cash also lost in the 1987 and 1988 AO finals both in five sets to Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander, respectively.)

One of the most intriguing anecdotes was about a fight a young Pat Cash had with Ivan Lendl in the Monte Carlo Country Club locker room in 1983. Here’s how Cash described the clash with the five years older Czech Republic legend…

“The day Lendl decided to have a joke at my expense was the day he made a big mistake. Not only did he run into somebody who didn’t give a damn about his reputation or his ranking, he also earned himself a fierce enemy who would take great delight in getting even with him at a place that really mattered a few years later (Wimbledon final 1987). As I recall, the incident happened very early in my career when I was only just 18 years old and fresh from the junior circuit. Eventhough I was a Wimbledon boys champion and a junior world no. 1, in terms of the full tour I was still very much a new kid on the block. Lendl had taken over the world no. 1 spot a couple of months earlier and quite rightly thought of himself as a big star. Nevertheless I was feeling kind of special as well. I had just signed a deal to wear tennis shoes made by the Italian firm Diadora and had been given a very unique gift. One of my great sporting heroes of the time was the legendary 400 meter hurdler Edwin Moses, who was another, but much more celebrated Diadora client. In honor of Moses, the company had made him some special crimson red leather jogging shoes. Diadora had presented me with a pair.”

“They were my pride and joy. I loved them. And one afternoon I was sitting on the bench in the Monte Carlo Country Club locker room talking to Paul McNamee. I had already lost in the qualifying rounds of the tournament but was hanging around because Monte Carlo in the European spring is not an unpleasant place to spend a few days training. The actual setting of the tennis courts is one of the most beautiful in the world. They are terraced, climbing above the clear blue Mediterranean and if you look across the bay there is the designer Karl Lagerfeld’s villa standing on the headland. I was minding my own business when in walked Lendl and he instantly took huge amusement in the red shoes on my feet. There was no other way to describe it, he totally destroyed the things and the little plastic bits that held the laces in place were pinging all over the locker room. Lendl thought it was hilarious. Like a great bully at school, he was having a good time at the expense of one of the younger kids. But he didn’t realize that this new boy wasn’t going to take any of his shit.”

“I flew at him in a fearful rage. He looked totally stunned as I grabbed him by the throat and if Paul McNamee hadn’t intervened very smartly, who is to say what would have happened. Macca had his arms around my chest pinning me back but I was still shouting at Lendl, how I would punch his lights out once I got the chance. All through it, Lendl was looking at me with the expression that suggested: You cannot do this to me because I am the no. 1. He really did think he could do anything he wanted. There were a few players in the locker room who just missed the incident and several of them have since told me that they truly wished I had given Lendl a really good hiding.”

“From that day on I disliked the guy intensely. He was always so conceited, so superior, and always used to put people down. He would regularly berate me about my game and say I possessed so many technical and fundamental flaws.”

In an example of poetic justice, Cash defeated Lendl for the 1987 Wimbledon title a couple of years later, the one Grand Slam title Lendl never won. 1987 was Lendl’s last real shot but Cash prevailed 76 62 75.

Lendl on the head to head series vs Cash 5-3

1988 Australian Open Outdoor Hard SF Cash 64 26 62 46 62
1987 Sydney-2 Indoor Hard F Lendl 64 62 64
1987 Wimbledon Outdoor Grass F Cash 76 62 75
1987 Australian Open Outdoor Grass SF Cash 76 57 76 64
1986 Sydney Indoor Hard SF Lendl 75 62
1984 US Open Outdoor Hard SF Lendl 36 63 64 67 76
1983 Australian Open Outdoor Grass R16 Lendl 76 63 63
1983 Wimbledon Outdoor Grass R16 Lendl 64 76 61

Diadora · Edwin Moses · Ivan Lendl · Monte Carlo · Pat Cash · Wimbledon

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