In his acceptance speech for the 2024 Australian Open trophy on Sunday, Jannik Sinner pointed to the coaching staff and mentioned Darren Cahiil as one of the people who helped him achieve the greatest success in his young career.
I have a great team behind me, who know what I have to do. With Darren, he has a lot of experience. He's been through this many times," Sinner said.
Sinner was the next person Cahiil took to the pinnacle of his tennis career.
Cahill joined Sinner's team in 2022 with the task of coaching the Italian tennis player in spirit as well as the overall picture, while coach Simone vagnozzi focused on core professional issues.
The situation was bad when Sinner was 2 sets behind Daniil Medvedev in the final, but Cahill was determined, shouting instructions including "take him off the net!" because the Russian tennis player was too perfect.
After scoring the decisive point, the emotional image was when Sinner climbed into the stands and hugged his team, expressing his respect for them and his family.
Sinner's first Grand Slam title is another success story for Cahill, who continues to develop his impressive coaching CV.
The 58-year-old has helped Lleyton Hewitt become the world's number 1 youngest ever, helping Andre Agassi regain his best form in his 30s.
Cahill also coached women's tennis player Simona Halep to the world No. 1 position and the 2018 French Open title.
Cahill has long been considered one of the most talented players in tennis and has been recognized as the one who gave Sinner the confidence to defeat the best of the best.
Sinner has won 10 of his last 11 matches against the Top 5 left-handed, including 3 wins against Novak Djokovic, whom he eliminated in the 2024 Australian Open semi-finals.
The tennis world is full of praise for Cahill, who has brought talented players from many generations to the pinnacle of the sport.
After winning the Davis Cup and Australian Open not long apart, Sinner has officially become one of the recognized stars and is preparing for a fierce competition with Carlos Alcaraz in the next decade.
Cahill said that it was Alcaraz's winning two major titles at the age of 20 that motivated Sinner to develop his potential.
With Cahill, he has been playing professionally since 1984, but has been more successful in doubles than singles. His career has 20 doubles titles (13 championships, 7 runner-up positions) but only 3 singles titles (2 championships, 1 runner-up position).
At Grand Slams, the Australian tennis player's most successful tournament was reaching the semi-finals of the 1988 US Open, when he eliminated Lawson Duncan, Boris Becker, Marcelo Ingaramo (withdrawal), Martin Laurendeau and Aaron Krickstein. He stopped against Mats Wilander, who later won the championship.
At other major events, he only went as far as round 3. But in doubles, he reached the final once ( Australian Open 1989), reached the quarter-finals three times (Wimbledon 1987, 1989 and US Open 1989).
After retiring in 1995, he gradually switched to coaching. In addition to Hewitt, Agassi, Halep and Sinner, he also participated in Adidas' Talent Development Program after Agassi retired in 2006 and worked with Andy Murray, Ana Ivanovic, Fernando Verdasco, Daniela Hantuchova, Sorana Cirstea.
Cahill is a coach at ProTennisCoach.com, a professional coaching website. Cahill is also involved in PlaySight Interactive, a sports technology company behind SmartCourt.
With Paul Annacone, he heads PlaySight's Athlete Training and Development team, helping the company bring its technology to more tennis coaches and athletes around the world.
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