In an interview with ABC, the Australian coach Darren Cahill analyzed Jannik Sinner’s victory at the US Open, revealing how difficult the last few months have been for the entire team, due to the doping affair that involved the young Italian last March in Indian Wells: a matter that came to light only last August 20. Cahill, who burst into tears after Jannik’s success in the Flushing Meadows final, also revealed the reasons for his tears.
“I’m not the head coach of this team, Simone Vagnozzi is the head coach. Of course, I’m the most experienced. So, in the last three or four weeks, I would say in the last four months, a lot of the things that have happened on the team have been on my shoulders. I’ve tried to keep perspective, to focus on what we’re trying to achieve, to tell Jannik that he hasn’t done anything wrong, that whatever happens he can go with his head held high, because he hasn’t done anything wrong at all. I told him to focus on tennis as professionally as possible and see what we can do in this period, and once we get through it, we can build from there. In the end, we did it, despite some stressful moments, and I think my reaction to the title preceded all of that,” he explained.
Cahill then revealed his words before Sinner took to the court in the final against Fritz: a piece of encouragement that prepared the Italian for his second Grand Slam final.
“I think being a coach is mostly about what happens to your player that you really care about. If the player doesn’t know that you’re involved in the project, that you care about what happens to him not only on the court but also as a person, it’s not going to work. I always talk a lot about Jannik’s tennis, but mostly about who he is as a person. Helping him mature and become the person that everyone wants to see, someone that the younger guys can look up to, that was my main job.
Before the final, I spoke to him and told him that the way he’s conducted himself in the last four weeks exudes honesty and resilience, that he can be very proud of himself and that he needs to go out there and enjoy himself, because he deserves to be out there. That’s my main role as a coach, and my reaction at the end of the match shows that we’ve had a very tough three or four months,” he analyzed.
A team that has always been close to Jannik, especially in difficult moments, that has helped him mature as a player but above all as a man. Cahill and Vagnozzi are two fundamental figures for the world number 1, who have protected him, pampered and raised him till to the US Open success.
Darren Cahill explains why he got emotional after Jannik Sinner won 2024 US Open pic.twitter.com/sKRifBKuCG
— asud (@asud683385) September 8, 2024