Darren Cahill has landed a full-time coach job with Italian tennis ace Jannik Sinner after a successful trial period.
Sinner, who is only 20, is among the newest crop of talented young players establishing themselves at the top of men's tennis. With half of the season gone, this is turning out to be a very decent year for him despite his inability to add to his four titles from last year.
Sinner is far from a finished article. He aims to improve every day and will turn 21 in August. From the age of thirteen, he was coached by veteran Riccardo Piatti until February of this year, when the two stopped working together.
Sinner announced that he had hired his fellow countryman Simone Vagnozzi, who previously coached the 2018 Roland Garros semifinalist Marco Cecchinato, as his newest coach.
But he is clearly not settling for the ordinary in his young career and has added a more experienced and household name to his ranks, that being Darren Cahill.
The Australian coach has an impressive CV. He has worked with some of the greats in tennis, including Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Murray, and Simona Halep, to name a few. He won a Grand Slam title with each one of them.
Cahill and Sinner worked together at Wimbledon this year in their first tournament, although it was only a trial period to gauge their alliance. The young Italian appears to be satisfied with the 56-year-old's tennis wisdom.
Sinner reached the Wimbledon quarterfinal and was one set away from beating defending champion Novak Djokovic. Now, he has made it official that Cahill will be part of his team, and it will be interesting to see what role he will play with Vagnozzi.
Cahill took to Twitter to share his reaction to the news. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, he assured fans that he would update them on their schedule together and that he is impressed by Sinner.
"Honored to be joining Jannik’s team."
"We will do weeks alone with Jannik and periods together. 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."