By Chris Oddo | Friday November 9, 2018
Darren Cahill and Simona Halep have announced their split due to Cahill's need for more family time.
Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Darren Cahill and Simona Halep have parted ways.
The Aussie announced the split on social media on Friday, saying that he had personal matters to attend to at home, and was officially taking a 12-month hiatus from coaching.
“I would like to announce that Simona and I will not be continuing our partnership in 2019 purely for family reasons on my part,” Cahill wrote in Instagram. “After much thought and discussion, and many years with 30 plus weeks on the road away from my family, I’ve decided to take a 12 month break from coaching to be home more for support as our children enter important stages of their lives with the final year of high school, sports and college preparations all becoming more time consuming.”
I would like to announce that Simona and I will not be continuing our partnership in 2019 purely for family reasons on my part. . After much thought and discussion, and many years with 30 plus weeks on the road away from my family, I’ve decided to take a 12 month break from coaching to be home more for support as our children enter important stages of their lives with the final year of high school, sports and college preparations all becoming more time consuming. . I’d like to thank Simona for the last 4 amazing years. Her understanding, personality, work ethic, generosity and professionalism made it a pleasure to stand by her side as her coach. She’s a young woman of total class and someone I respect greatly which is something more important than any result achieved. . Basically, I had the dream job and I want to thank her for making it that way, and the opportunity to work with someone so talented and dedicated. . I wish Simo and her team nothing but continued success and I look forward to supporting her from the sidelines next year. . A special mention to Theo Cercel, Andrei Cristofor and Virginia Ruzici for all of the support, belief, friendship and great work through the years. . And finally, to the Romanian fans that show unwavering passion and support for their girl. You guys rock, seriously. Thanks for adopting this Aussie as one of your own for the last 4 years and making me feel welcome in your country. Mulțumesc ❤️ . I will continue to work with the ESPN team at the AO, Wimbledon & US Open tournaments in 2019. . Cheers, Darren
A post shared by Darren Cahill (@dc10s) on
Under Cahill’s tutelage, Halep climbed to No.1 and won her first major this season at Roland Garros. She has now claimed back-to-back year-end No.1 finishes.
Famously, Cahill gave Halep an ultimatum in 2017 when she was struggling with a bad attitude. He left her for a spell and didn’t return until he was confident that she would work on eliminating negativity from her mindset.
“When I finished Stuttgart, he said he saw enough, and he's ready to come back. I asked him if he wants to come back before Madrid,” Halep said at the time. “He said yes, because I improved a lot, and he saw that I really wanted to change that. So the desire that I had in that moment made him come back and just be ready for me. Now I'm happy that I can be positive on court, and I will never be negative, I felt ashamed about what I did.”
Cahill and Halep formed a deep bond and developed a rapport that was easy to see.
“I’d like to thank Simona for the last 4 amazing years,” Cahill said in his Instagram post. “Her understanding, personality, work ethic, generosity and professionalism made it a pleasure to stand by her side as her coach. She’s a young woman of total class and someone I respect greatly which is something more important than any result achieved. Basically, I had the dream job and I want to thank her for making it that way, and the opportunity to work with someone so talented and dedicated.”
Cahill added that he plans to continue with his commentary work during the Grand Slams for ESPN.
No names have been mentioned as Halep’s next coaching search begins.