Jannik Sinner's Coach Reveals How Close He Came To Withdrawing From AO With Illness
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Jannik Sinner successfully defended his Australian Open title, but the Italian's coach, Darren Cahill, said he could have withdrawn from the tournament due to illness.
Sinner felt unwell before and during his fourth-round match against Holger Rune in Melbourne. The Italian was visibly struggling before taking an off-court medical timeout to allow the doctor to assist him.
Being helped by the doctor was crucial to the world No. 1, and he improved during the rest of the match. Sinner was not at his best, but strong serving and resilience were enough for him to defeat Rune in four sets.
After winning his quarterfinal against Alex de Minaur far more comfortably, Sinner described the difficult morning he had before the match against Rune and admitted to not knowing if victory would be possible.
Cahill, Sinner's joint coach alongside Simone Vagnozzi, gave more details in comments to SEN. The Australian revealed the 23-year-old's practices before the fourth round were canceled, and he went to the doctor instead.
"He was pretty bad. We didn’t know if he was going to step on the court. It was that bad. We knew from the day before he wasn’t feeling great, so he got to bed early. We canceled his practice, I think he was scheduled to play at about 2.30pm in the afternoon, in the heat of the day."
"We had a warm-up booked for the morning and canceled that and moved it back to midday, and when he turned up to the courts he looked as white as a sheet."
"We canceled all the practices, went to the doctor, and they gave him some gels to get the energy up. He rested up, he took an ice bath to get him going, and we threw him onto the court cold."
Sinner's co-coach admitted that last year's ATP Finals champion was slightly lucky that the doctor's off-court treatment had a positive impact. After the medical timeout, Cahill immediately noticed some color had returned to his face.
"He got a little bit lucky in that match, it was midway through the third set, he brought out the trainers to get his temperature taken and his vitals taken."
"They had trouble doing it on the court so they did it off the court, so he get got some extra rest and I think it was about 10 minutes by the time he got onto the court and he walked straight past us and we could see the colour in his face had changed a bit."
"He was white when he walked off and had a bit of color back in his face when he walked back on. Then, 20 minutes later, he hit a big first serve and broke the net, so he got another 20 minutes to go back inside. He got a little bit lucky in that match, but once he got through, he felt much better the next day, and away he went."
While some luck was involved, Sinner showed an impressive mentality to step onto the court in the first place and battle through the match despite not feeling his best.
