By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday, July 7, 2022
Jannik Sinner achieved two big things at Wimbledon this year. First he reached his first Wimbledon quarterfinal, becoming the first ATP player to have three Grand Slam quarterfinals to his name before turning 21 since Juan Martin del Potro in 2008. Second, he locked up a top-notch coach to join his team full time.
Darren Cahill, former coach of Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, Simona Halep and Amanda Anisimova, has joined Sinner’s team, which also features coach Simone Vagnozzi, physiotherapist Jerome Bianchi, and physical trainer Umberto Ferrara.
“We will do weeks alone with Jannik and periods together,” Cahill told Corriere Della Sera. “Soon we will share the calendar. The Wimbledon trial period was very positive: I knew Jannik as a player but not as a person. He impressed me. He is humble, witty, well educated and full of a passion for tennis. These are the most important human skills for me. Then he is the athlete, whose qualities are there for all to see.”
Sinner parted with longtime coach Riccardo Piatti earlier this year and was rumored to be close to hiring Magnus Norman, but it never happened.
Cahill also talked about how Sinner’s loss to Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals could be a learning experience. The 20-year-old blew a two sets to love lead against the six-time Wimbledon champion.
“I only see positive points: on Tuesday Jannik realized he could play on a par with [Djokovic],” he said. “This is no small piece of information.
"He understood that a match with the top players is made up of phases and that he will have to raise the intensity of his tennis along with the level, as Novak did from the third set onwards. Jannik, on the other hand, remained on the same level as the first two. I saw him tired, in the end: five sets on the grass are brutal. He should have measured his energy better in order not to end up in reserve. He will learn quickly.”