The county of Sussex and the Wimbledon Championships have had plenty in common over the decades.
Did you know, for instance, that the first player ever to hit a ball in anger on the Centre Court way back in June 1922 was Leslie Godfree from Brighton?
However, much of that common ground has been in the distant past – until now.
On Saturday, Albion fan Julian Cash – who also happens to be one of the best doubles players in the world – hit the winning shot in the men’s doubles final at Wimbledon to seal his first ever tennis Grand Slam title alongside fellow Brit Lloyd Glasspool.
The victory capped a remarkable couple of months for Cash and Glasspool. Besides Wimbledon, the pair also took the men’s doubles titles at both Queens Club in London and Eastbourne during June, with Saturday’s win on the hallowed Centre Court turf being their 14th in a row.
Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool won the men's doubles at Wimbledon. 📸 by Andy Cowie/ Colorsport.
For Cash, who grew up in Henfield, becoming a Wimbledon champion at the age of 28 marks the realisation of a dream that’s been there since childhood.
“I’ve watched Wimbledon for as long as I can remember, so this will take quite a while to truly sink in,” he said.
“I’d never even been on Centre Court before, but we played our semi-final on Court One the day beforehand and that helped us a lot. We dealt with that really well, which made walking out on Centre – I don’t want to say normal – but a little bit more normal!
“It was an absolute privilege to be out there in front of a packed crowd and I loved every minute of it.”
For Cash, one of the few downsides to being a professional tennis player is the amount of time spent away from home. Which, needless to say, also makes attending Albion games increasingly difficult.
Julian Cash (left) was a season ticket holder at the Amex prior to moving to America. 📸 by Andy Cowie/Colorsport.
“I used to have a season ticket at the Amex when I was younger but I gave it up when I moved to America to go to university (Julian played tennis and studied at Mississippi State University, prior to transferring to Oklahoma State University).
“Whenever I’m back though I try and go, and of course I look out for our results wherever I am. It just becomes a habit wherever you are, to see how we’ve done.”
Cash will now head to the United States where he and Glasspool are competing in a number of tournaments in the build up to the US Open next month.
Congratulations Julian, and the best of luck from us all.