With nine men in the world’s top 100 and 14 in the men’s singles draw at Melbourne Park, Australian tennis would appear to be in rude health as the first grand slam event of the year begins. World No 8 Alex de Minaur is the nation’s big hope for a first men’s Australian Open champion since 1976 and the return of Nick Kyrgios from injury adds a nice touch of spice to proceedings.

In the 49 years since Mark Edmondson won the title, Australian men have gone close on a number of occasions; Pat Cash reached back-to-back finals in 1987 and 1988 while Lleyton Hewitt was runner-up in 2005. Hewitt and Pat Rafter each won two slam titles but getting over the line at Melbourne Park has been a step too far for the men, although Ash Barty won the women’s title in 2022.

Cash was the only Australian to win a men’s slam in the 1980s, his victory at Wimbledon still remembered fondly, partly for his climb into the stands to see his family, a scene now an annual tradition at the All England Club.

As someone who grew up in the shadow of the tennis greats who dominated the game in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, Cash benefitted from having their ear, with many of them helping the country’s best players. Now Australia’s best coaches, like Darren Cahill, the coach of world No 1 Jannik Sinner, work with overseas players instead.

“That’s been the disappointing thing,” Cash told Guardian Australia. “We have some really good ex-players, champions … you’ve got Roger Rasheed, you’ve got Wally Masur, you’ve got Darren Cahill, you’ve got me, you’ve got Mark Philippoussis. And none of us, all the best players in the modern generation, none of us are being used by Tennis Australia.

“If Tennis Australia brought all these guys in, can you imagine the success we would have? Paul McNamee is another one. He works with foreign players. Peter McNamara was the same. I think we’ve missed plenty of opportunities to actually improve players more rapidly.”

As Kyrgios pointed out at Melbourne Park on Friday, the depth of Australian tennis is as good now as it has been, perhaps for a generation. Alexei Popyrin won his first Masters 1000 title in Canada last summer and beat Novak Djokovic at the US Open, Jordan Thompson is seeded at a slam for the first time and others are knocking on the door of career-high rankings.

“The big thing is, where’s our next champion,” Cash says. “Where’s the next real superstar? I worked with Popyrin a little bit, early in his career, his first Wimbledon, when he got through and qualified, but by and large, there’s so much coaching talent in this, in Australian tennis, that is being used by other nations.

“There’s Craig O’Shannessy, who’s one of the best stats guys, he’s working for the Italian Federation. So all this talent has been used by other people. Why isn’t it being used by Australian players? We’ve got some very good players, de Minaur’s obviously the one who’s top 10, but that influence can make a difference between a good player, which we’ve got, and great players.”

In recent years, there has been a trend of Australian players breaking through late in their careers; Thompson is a case in point, making the top 30 for the first time at the age of 30. All of the Australians in the top 10 are hard workers, maximising their potential, but for Cash, homegrown coaches lack some of the experience of those who have been out there and done it.

“I think that’s typically because Australian coaches themselves are slightly off the heartbeat of world coaching,” Cash says. “We do have some good international coaches … but Popyrin and de Minaur, they grew up in Spain, didn’t they? I mean, basically their parents realised, OK, you can get stuck in Australia a little bit. So they grew up in Spain and developed some good basics on the clay. My concern is the lower-level coaches in Australia are not good enough. They’re not experienced enough, and they’re the ones that are working with our top juniors.”

Despite his misgivings, Cash believes the current crop of Australian men have the work ethic, desire and mental toughness to succeed. “The amazing thing in Australia is somehow, we’ve had a grand slam champion just about every generation,” Cash says. “[Sam] Stosur and Barty and Lleyton … it’s not easy, of course.

“It’s full credit to the guys who just get out there and work hard. It’s good to see those guys come through. They’re tough competitors. Other than a couple, you’ve got to really fight every time you play an Aussie, you know it’s a battle coming on.”