Cash Strapped

After watching Serena Williams destroy world no. 1 Maria Sharapova last night in one of the most one-sided Grand Slam finals ever, I couldn't fail to recall the wisdom of Pat Cash in the Sunday Times
a fortnight ago.

Whilst I accept that columnists like Cash are paid to be controversial, he's an Australian so I can't allow an opportunity like this go to waste, particularly in light of the non-stop laughs they've had at our expense since our cricket 'team' landed Down Under.

"WILLIAMS IS LOST CAUSE: For all her talk, Serena Williams will never return to the top again," the article barked in its headline, drawing in me given that despite her recent problems, she remains one of the purest and most powerful hitters of a tennis ball the game has ever seen.

"..when Serena Williams arrives in Australia on her first foreign playing trip in a year and announces that it is only a matter of time before she is again dominating the sport, it’s time to tell her to get real...", Cash assured us, sipping no doubt on a cool glass of Fosters, getting up only to turn over his Men At Work LP.

"...to make such a crass statement on her arrival in Australia was an insult to Amelie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova, who have risen to the top of the game in her absence....", sentiments to which the young Russian would surely continue to take offence as she contemplates her 6-1 6-2 defeat.

"I still don’t expect too many upsets before the quarter-finals, but neither do I expect Serena Williams, currently the world’s 81st-ranked player, with eight Americans above her in the rankings, to be in the mix at the sharp end of the tournament," Cash concluded with the same aplomb with which he took Wimbledon to its hearts in 1987.

It got me wondering therefore, is Pat Cash really just the Sunday Times tennis columnist, or is he also Serena Williams' motivational coach?