By DPA
Melbourne : Pat Cash has blasted Tennis Australia officials after the federation apparently rejected two offers of coaching help from the former Wimbledon winner.
Cash charged that the budget-conscious federation was “paying peanuts to get monkeys” in its approach to developing the game.
Australia is mired in a bad phase, with the nation eliminated from the top tier of both the Davis and Fed Cup. The former tennis power has just three men and three women ranked inside the Top 100.
Cash, who runs a tennis academy in Queensland, has said he’s been knocked back after offering to help lift the level of the sport in the country.
“We have a serious lack of good international coaches – we have none,” he told Australian media. “Tennis Australia have a theory that they don’t want to be wasting money, they want to be saving money.
“To put it harshly, you pay peanuts and you get monkeys.”
He added: “Australian tennis has been in a bad situation for a while now. I don’t expect any great results at the Open.”
The former great said he’d approached to help – no money was mentioned – and never received any follow-up from the Aussie tennis power brokers.