Cahill on Sinner: ‘He’ll never settle’

Fans watching Sunday’s Australian Open final from around the world saw Jannik Sinner’s coaches, Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi, urge their charge on throughout his come-from-behind victory against Daniil Medvedev. The coaches were ecstatic to watch the Italian capture his first Grand Slam title.

“We believe in Jannik, we always have. He's a special young kid,” Cahill said. “Even the way he hits the ball, it just sounds special. When you hit the ball the way he does, when you want to improve the way he does, when you move the way he does, he's going to have success at some point… Our job as coaches is to try to fast-track that as quickly as possible and get him to where he wants to go quickly so he can have a long window at the top of the game.

“He's been doing well. He's absorbing everything and trying new things on the court, and he just wants to get better. I'm sure after this sinks in he won't settle. He'll never settle. He wants to get better.”

A special message from the @AustralianOpen champion 🏆🤩 @janniksin | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/1ORQ4DNJEt

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 28, 2024

Sinner has been part of a surge of young talent on the ATP Tour, with former No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings Carlos Alcaraz another Grand Slam champion. According to Cahill, seeing the likes of Alcaraz succeed has helped motivate Sinner.

“Hell, yeah. Absolutely,” Cahill said, cracking a smile. “There's no question seeing the young players come through and having success drives each and every one of them. Not just Jannik. They all desire it. They all want it. If they see one of their compatriots or someone of their generation having success, absolutely.

“Then you look into what they're doing, why they're having success, and how are we going to replicate it for us. Carlos has trail-blazed for a lot of young players. We're thankful for that. He's a delight to watch play, and a delight to watch him on court. We aspire to be as good as him and hopefully one day be better than him, but at the moment we're chasing Carlos, and we'll continue to do that.”

Cahill has coached several major champions throughout his career, from Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi to Simona Halep and now Sinner. What is different about this team?

“I’m working with the best coach that I've ever worked with in Simone. For me, I've never been able to work with a coach like him. I think he's doing an incredible job,” Cahill said. “Every moment like this is special. It's an amazing feeling for the entire team when your player goes out there and achieves the greatness that Jannik achieved tonight. This one is a little bit different because the team is very close. The Italian boys, they stick together. They work hard, they have fun, they enjoy themselves. The culture within the team is excellent.”

Cahill explained that Vagnozzi was the one who delivered the tactical messages to Sinner to help turn the tone of the match after he lost the first two sets.

“For sure [it] was an incredible match. Daniil started so well, played so aggressive,” Vagnozzi said. “The match changed a little bit when Jannik broke him on 5-1 [in the second set], went 5-3, break point to go back 5-4. Daniil a little bit stepped back at this point, maybe felt a little bit tired of the long tournament. Then we started to believe a little bit, because the first to 5-1 was really difficult.”

Medvedev was trying to become the first player to win four five-setters en route to a Grand Slam title. But Sinner’s freshness — he lost just one set to reach the final — proved an advantage.

“In this tournament, he never had really a long match, tough situation like today,” Vagnozzi said. “And I think this match can give him a lot of confidence and inspire him also for the next time, because when you come back one time from two sets to love you know that you are able to do it.”

Sinner said during his press conference that Vagnozzi was already discussing with him after the match ways to improve moving forward. Cahill added that as exciting as the moment is, they will continue to push forward.

“Our job now is just to make sure that we keep him pumped up,” Cahill said. “It's because it's the start of the year, it's a long year, and it's important to enjoy the moment but when we get back onto the tennis court we will try to keep him in that good mindset and try to keep him winning.”