WIMBLEDON, England -- Three years ago, Pat Cash was Wimbledon's king, a moment best remembered for his mad dash into the Centre Court crowd to embrace his family after winning the championship.
Monday, Cash could see the ivy-covered exterior of Centre Court from the baseline at Court No. 14, where he barely survived a five-set match against Soviet qualifier Dimitri Poliakov.
Cash, playing in the 1990 Wimbledon only by the grace of a wild-card exemption, had to win the final two sets to emerge with a 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 first-round triumph.
'I'm just happy to be out there playing at this stage, to be playing at Wimbledon and to finish that match out,' said Cash, who defeated Ivan Lendl to win the 1987 Wimbledon title.
After outlasting Poliakov, who is ranked 253rd, Cash said, 'I was happy -- I did win the match. Actually, to finish it I felt was a good effort. It's nice being out there. It's always a good feeling to play.'
Cash hasn't been able to do a lot of playing recently. His 1989 season ended abruptly when he tore his Achilles tendon at the Japan Open.
The Australian spent almost a full year off the court. His competitive comeback was not a smooth one, beginning with three straight first-round defeats at Martinique, Key Biscayne, Florida, and Japan.
He started to show the form of old by reaching the final of a tournament in Seoul, South Korea, then won the following week in Hong Kong.
But he struggled again upon arriving in England. He was defaulted at Beckenham when he arrived late for his first-round match against Stefan Edberg, then lost to Paul Chamberlin in the first round of the Queens Club event.
'It's just a matter of putting it all together -- that's the bottom line ... everything dropped in place in Asia a couple of months ago,' Cash said.
'I'm hoping it's all going to come together all of a sudden (at Wimbledon), and a tough match like today is going to help, I think.'
Cash had a bit of a scare when he strained a leg muscle early in the first set.
'I found it very hard running for a couple of sets and it wasn't until it loosened up that I was able to run properly and return serve and get to the net. It was probably around the third set that I started feeling mobile enough to start playing well.'
Cash also has been plagued in the past with injuries to his back and an ankle and underwent an appendectomy shortly before the 1986 Wimbledon event, leaving him to sometimes believe he leads a jinxed tennis existence. Those questions began creeping into his mind again Monday.
'I thought, 'When is my luck going to change?'' he said. 'I had a very good few weeks. But the bottom line was I played well and I finished it off.'
Since his Centre Court triumph, Cash's ranking has plummeted from a high of No. 7 to 626th before his success in Asia. Now ranked 142nd, his expectations at Wimbledon are rather simple.
'I expect to go home and have a nice dinner. That's about it,' he said. 'I really don't expect too much. I'm just happy to play it day by day, to be perfectly honest. As I said, I'm very happy to be here and playing pretty well.'
He doesn't rule out another Wimbledon success in the forthcoming years.
'I've done it before,' he said. 'I know I can win here.'
