Life after tennis can strike a resounding death chord for Pat Cash.

The 1987 Wimbledon champion, famous for his black-and-white checkered headband inspired by Rick Nielsen, lead guitarist for Cash's then favorite band Cheap Trick, spends some of his spare time playing guitar himself. 

"(I like) lots of stuff, mainly guitar or blues, funk to full on Death Metal," Cash says with a smile.

While Cash strings life into death metal, he mourns the demise of the serve-and-volley style he played. Cash said serve-and-volleyers have become an endangered species in today's tennis.

"Tennis has changed a lot over the years. Since my playing days and now, it's a very different game and the approach to it is very different," Cash said. "Look at the height and strength of the players. Now it is a power game. It's not as pretty as before, but certainly more effective. The players serve better than ever before. But we don't see many players volleying. It's almost a lost art."

Three of the four majors were once played on grass. Cash points to Wimbledon as the lone Grand Slam staged on grass — as well as the fact top players seldom play doubles anymore — as the primary reasons for the growth of baseliners and the demise of serve-and-volley tennis.

"The future of grass court is Wimbledon, unless the grass stops growing," Cash says. "It is the biggest tournament on grass and it will remain that way. Actually, grass courts are expensive to maintain. It is much easier to lay the clay courts. Nowadays, players stress more on playing singles. This is not very good for world tennis. But I guess it's going to be that way."

The 43-year-old Melbourne native staged a bit of a grass-court revival in August.

Cash won the singles title at the $150,000 Hall of Fame Champions Cup defeating Jim Courier 6-3, 6-4 in the singles final, spoiling Courier’s 38th birthday. With the victory, Cash earned $54,000 and his first tournament victory on the Outback Champions Series, the global tennis circuit for champion tennis players age 30 and over.

"It’s been a fantastic tour," said Cash of the Outback Champions Series. "I’ve been lucky to play a lot of tournaments.  My favorite surface is here on grass.  The Hall of Fame put on a fantastic event."

Said Courier of Cash, "He’s clearly a deserving champion and a very worthy champion. He’s a Wimbledon champion after all."

The former US Open semifinalist is back at it again this week. Cash defeated John McEnroe 3-6, 7-6(6), 10-7 in yesterday's BlackRock Tour Of Champions match in Budapest that was a match of Wimbledon winners.  The victory came 21 years after Cash beat Ivan Lendl to win Wimbledon — a triumph that still brings back fond memories.

"It was a long time ago now. Looking back I feel that I was lucky to have squeezed a few good years in between my injuries and 1986 to 1989 were the years where I was super fit and mentally very tough," Cash said. "Coming in to the tournament I knew the only player I would have trouble with was Boris Becker who had won it the previous two years. He lost early and although I had to beat the number 1, 3 and 5 players in the world (Lendl, Mats Wilander and Jimmy Connors) their games suited my game on the grass. I had to pull it off and after good results winning the Davis Cup in 86 and the Australian Open final in early 1987, I was full of self belief."

Scoop Malinowski, never one to suffer from a shortage of self-confidence on court, caught up with Cash for this Biofile interview. 

Height/Weight: 6-feet, 185 pounds.  

Born On: May 27, 1965 in Melbourne, Australia.

Childhood Heroes: "Were all Aussie Rules Football players. The ones I enjoyed were Lee Matthews who was a Hawthorne football player, now a coach of the Lions. And Peter Knights — another Hawthorne player. So I was a mad Aussie Rules supporter. In tennis, probably three guys particularly — Borg, McEnroe and Connors."

Nicknames: "Just Cashy or Butcher. Other than that probably Dickhead or Asshole, something like that. I respond to any of those [smiles]."

Hobbies/Interests: "Play guitar, play golf — when I can, not very often though. Just try and spend some time with my kids."

Early Tennis Memory: "Going to Kooyong, when I first started getting tennis lessons down there which was a thrill. That's the earliest memory I've got."

Favorite Movies: "It would have to be all comedy movies. I try to make a collection of great movies like Spinal Tap and Monty Python's Holy Grail. One of the funniest of mine was Kung Pow which is a piss-take of Hong Kong karate movies. It's very funny. Dumb & Dumber. I like comedy movies, but not exclusively. But other than that, Braveheart. Forrest Gump, I loved that movie."

Musical Tastes: "Lots of stuff, mainly Guitar or Blues, Funk to full on Death Metal [smiles]."

First Job: "I had a little paper route, delivered weekly newspapers. I just did it with my mate. Really we were just hanging out on the bikes. That was my first job. Since then, I've only been employed a couple of times — by some Tour players. And not sure if I'll be doing that again."

First Car: "That I bought — a Mercedes 300E (blue). I still got it (from) six, seven or eight years ago. Bought a couple of little ones since then."

Favorite Meal: "I'll say black miso cod — they call it — at a restaurant Nobu which is around the world now. It's fantastic. Best thing I ever had."

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: "Not a big ice cream eater. But I'm quite happy with vanilla."

Pre-Match Feeling: "It just varied, depending on the match and the circumstances. These days I just try and think about keeping the ball in the court. But it varied from being very nervous to not nervous at all. It's always good to be a little anxious, but not overly anxious."

Greatest Sports Moment: "Greatest moment — probably winning Wimbledon (7-6, 6-2, 7-5 over  Ivan Lendl in 1987). Followed very closely by Davis Cup — winning Davis Cup matches in Melbourne."

Most Painful Moment: "I'd have to say there's been plenty of painful memories, mentally and physically. But mine was at the U.S. Open when I made a comeback and I injured my back and couldn't play. Had to default. (Against who?) The Russian guy Olhovskiy (in '95). I couldn't move. I had qualified and hurt my back in the last match of qualifying. I would have played Philippousis after that. And I thought that was the end of my career. And it was after working so hard to get back. As it turned out, I was only out for about six weeks or so. But I thought I hurt my disc again. So that was one of my worst memories for sure."

Closest Tennis Friends: "From tennis? I couldn't say one is closer than the any other one. I'm still friends with most of the guys. Don't catch up with them that often though. Probably Dean Barclay, he's my original coach's (Ian Barclay) son."

Funniest Players: "Scott Davis has got a great sense of humor. Geez, I wouldn't know the modern players. John Lloyd. A lot of the older guys have got real good senses of humor."

Toughest Competitors: "Geez, there's plenty of those [smiles]. Jimmy Connors is right up there. Michael Chang was always tough. Becker — always had problems with Becker. Edberg. All the champs, that's what makes them so good."

Favorite Vacation Spot: "I try and vary it just about every year. I've been to a lot of great places. The last really nice one I had was in the Cook Islands. That was really good. It's in the South Pacific, just beyond New Zealand."

Funny Tennis Memory: "Well, I have a lot of laughs these days with the guys on the circuit. I can't really think of a funny memory. I was always pretty serious when I was on the court. I can't honestly think of one."

Childhood Dream: "Aussie Rules Football player — for the Hawks. And then I always wanted to be a rock star [laughs]. So I've blown those two opportunities [smiles]."

Favorite Players To Watch Today: "I like watching Agassi. Federer and Henman — guys who come to the net a little bit. There's not many of them around, unfortunately. Some players to watch...I think Mario Ancic is a good player, he's exciting. He comes to the net a little bit. Serve-and-volleyers are a dying breed unfortunately. Hopefully they won't all be gone."

People Qualities Most Admired: "Honesty. I think honesty. Honesty is rare, not around too often these days."

Scoop Malinowski created the Biofile interview in 1992. Scoop is a Tennisweek.com contributor, noted boxing expert and accomplished recreational tennis player who has competed in the USTA Nationals and the National Public Parks Championships at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows. Scoop's first book "Heavyweight Armageddon: The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle" is available at www.amazon.com