‘Our story came true’: What Sinner said to coach Cahill after his AO win

Darren Cahill is a former professional tennis player, turned coach. On Sunday evening, his latest protege, Jannik Sinner, won the Australian Open.

Fitz: Serious congrats on your tennis coaching career, and I want to get to your latest triumph with Jannik Sinner shortly. But let’s start with you. Your father is the legendary Port Adelaide coach John Cahill. Did he give you sporting principles that you applied to your own playing and coaching career?

DC: Yes. I lived my entire childhood around a football club, so I was around him and the players and they went through a pretty successful era, back in the ’70s, ‘80s and ’90s. It starts with work ethic – though with Jannik our biggest problem has been getting him off the tennis practice court than getting him on it. Dad also taught me that no one in the team is more important than anyone else – something that has more application in tennis entourages now than ever before, and that communication is very important.

‘It starts with work ethic’: Australian coach Darren Cahill who lead Italian Jannik Sinner to his first grand slam win.Credit: Eddie Jim

Fitz: I first met you at Roland Garros in ’87. At the same time, I happened to notice a 17-year-old American kid tearing some poor bastard apart on a back-court. I was mesmerised.

DC: Andre Agassi?

Fitz: Yes! Did you know of him, then?

DC: Yes, from when he was about 15, when he came out to Adelaide with a group of young American players. And it was just like it was when I first saw Jannik Sinner a few years ago – there was a different sound when they hit the ball. It’s a real ... thump, thump, thump. They hit the ball so hard every time, it just sounds different from the way it sounds when hit by us mere mortals, and you just know they’re going to be special. And with Agassi, I remember he crushed me pretty early in his career. I was playing as well as I could play and it was the third round in the Canadian Open and he absolutely took me to the woodshed.

Fitz: Well, although you didn’t turn into a world-beater yourself, you turned into a world-contender, getting to the semi-finals of the US Open, and being ranked 22nd in the world. Given your success as a coach, it’s clear that your idea of what world-best tennis looks like is on the money. So was it ever frustrating to you, that your brain was writing cheques that your body couldn’t cash, that you knew what to do but your body just couldn’t do it, like Agassi was doing it?

DC: In the moment, you don’t really think that way. As a child, I watched the Bjorn Borg/John McEnroe finals like everybody else, and dreamt of playing one of those guys on Wimbledon Centre Court. So when I eventually got to do that, playing McEnroe on Centre Court in 1989, and took him to five sets, I remember thinking back to my childhood, and thinking, “What a moment this is!” I was honoured just to be there. Plus, it was all part of a sliding-doors moment. When my career was over, I came back to Adelaide and got a knock on the door from Lleyton Hewitt, and that set me on my course for my coaching career.

Fitz: And what a career! You’ve coached all of Simona Halep, Hewitt and Agassi all to world No.1 during their peaks – Lleyton as the youngest world number one, and Agassi as the oldest world number one. Tell us more ...

DC: Lleyton and I clicked straight away because we had the same football upbringing. His dad was a pretty good footballer as well. So he was of the same philosophy as I am. We related incredibly well to preparing for matches and going out there and giving it everything, leaving nothing on the pitch, leaving no stone unturned. My job with him was to teach him how to play what shot from what part of the court; how to break down opponents; how to find weaknesses; how to utilise your strengths. And with that approach he won the US Open. He was a player who could always find an extra gear, and the bigger the match, the more gears he could find. You know, he was one of these players that revelled in walking into a 23,000-seat stadium. And he might be a certain level of a player on court 15. But he actually became a 25 per cent better player on Centre Court. So he was, I think the best competitor that Australia has ever seen in tennis.

Darren Cahill advises Simona Halep at the 2019 WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China.Credit: Getty

Fitz: Which brings us to Agassi. As I remember it, it was like a scene out of a Rocky movie. You find him as an old man, in a back bar. He’s the former world number one, who now smells of booze and cheap perfume. You say, “Andre, you’re a bum, but I’m going to turn you into a world champion again!”

DC: You know, I’d love to tell you that was the case because it sounds like a great story. But it wasn’t like that, at all.

Fitz: [Crestfallen.] Oh.

DC: He was 32 years of age, married to Steffi Graf and they had just had a new baby – so he was settled and had purpose, and called me up and asked me whether or not I’d be interested to work with him. I was. And his IQ for tennis is off the charts. His intellect when it comes to breaking down tennis players was something I’d never experienced before and so I was learning on the go as well. I always did my homework. I was actually one of the first coaches that started to use video technology which I pinched from the Port Adelaide Football Club. You get matches, then you break it down, to get and make all the points you want in just six minutes or so.

But, Andre, he took that to a different degree. He was asking, “If I hit a certain shot of forehand cross-court to Richard Gasquet, what’s Richard going to do? Is he going to cross-court the ball, play it with spin, or play a slice down the line? How should I move to anticipate it? Where should I take the next shot? Should I be transitioning forward inside the baseline a couple of steps?” So he was looking for answers to just about every shot and scenario on a tennis match. So I had to quickly upskill myself as a coach to do more homework and to be more prepared. He taught me more about coaching than I taught him about playing.

He was a spectacular intellect when it comes to tennis and that’s why he’s so much fun to talk to even now. He’s been talking to me about Jannik for years, and sent me a message straight after Jannik won, from Las Vegas, “What a way to wake up! What a beautiful morning!”

Fitz: Now, both Agassi and Hewitt started out as tempestuous characters, easy targets for people like me to take aim at, for their endless carry-on. And yet Agassi turned in to one of the most beloved figures in the game, while Hewitt finished his career with a universal respect which he retains as Davis Cup coach. So, as part of your coaching, do you embrace the philosophy of Herb Elliott’s famous coach Percy Cerutty and All Blacks coach Sir Brian Lochore that, “Better men make better players and better athletes”? Does any of your coaching turn on that? Did you help turn Hewitt and Agassi into better men, who became greater players because of it?

DC: We’ve used that quote many times. And we’ve spoken about that as well. And that was the way my dad coached at Port Adelaide. He tried to make people around him better people and if you can do that you become a more successful coach because it’s then easy to teach a certain way of playing a sport, and they play in a better way.

But the thing with Jannik is, I don’t have to try to do that because he is a good man already, and he treats people incredibly well. Plus, he already had a great coach in Simone Vagnozzi, when I was brought in to oversee, and great people around him. Whether he wins or loses, that’s what you need to create to be successful. And we knew that if we created something special, then he would be successful at some point.

Maybe we didn’t expect for it to come this quickly. Because I think his last four months, he’s risen to a whole new level. He wasn’t playing at this level twelve months ago and the last four months he’s accepted responsibility for his tennis, for the way he behaves on the court, for mistakes he makes on the court. He doesn’t look to blame anybody. He just looks to get answers on the practice court and work harder to be better. And we’re all incredibly proud of that.

Fitz: A recent innovation in tennis has been to allow open coaching, not just the hand signals. You were notable on Sunday evening for shouting things from the box like “He’s tired” and “Take away his net!” Do you have to be careful in your coaching, not to cross the line – “OUT!” – not to go too far?

DC: Yeah, it’s always a challenge, for any coach. I think in any sport, you have to find the balance between technical, tactical and inspirational input and have to understand what’s going to get the best out of your player. So there are certain moments in a match where your player needs a bit of a pump-up or you need to sell some belief.

Sometimes, as a player, you’re only seeing what you’re doing on your side of the court. So if someone tells you, “Hey, your opponent’s getting tired”, that might just change the player’s thought process enough to make him relax, and then concentrate on what he needs to do. So we tried a few different things. Some of them worked. Some of them didn’t. But with Jannik, if something doesn’t work, he just puts his head down and works harder.

Fitz: In his press conference after his victory, he said, “Darren and I talk about normal things, not always about tennis. Then 20 minutes before the match, we talk about tactics, how to handle things.” What on earth did you talk to him about that was not about tennis?

DC: I gave him a football story. I told him about the 1994 grand final, when Port Adelaide was struggling against the Eagles, and Dad gave a famous speech, mostly to star forward Scotty Hodges, who hadn’t been scoring: “Even if things are not going well for you, you’ve done the work! So have the belief, and trust in the fact that if you keep working and keep giving your best, we’re all proud of you, and no matter what the result is – what will be, will be – don’t leave any stone unturned trying to get the win because that’s what we’re here for. If you keep going, keep believing, things will turn for you.” Scotty went out and kicked five goals in the final quarter to win the match.

Fitz: You’re getting me pumped up!

DC: [Laughing.] Well, that’s what happened with Jannik against Medvedev. Down two sets to love, he just kept working, kept believing. Left no stone unturned, and finally he started to turn it around and made great things happen. And he will have those memories forever, given us all memories forever. In fact, after the match, Jannik smiled at me and said, “Our story came true”. I said, “It sure did.″⁣

Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev show their respect for each other after their five-set final.Credit: Eddie Jim

He was over the moon in the locker room. And he’s a a fun-loving kid. You can see by the smile he has every now and then on the court. Something stupid will happen on the court, and instead of getting upset he will just look at us and smile like, “What a goof.” So, you know, he doesn’t take himself seriously. He hasn’t changed one single bit in the last couple of years. And that’s the most important thing now because he has a long way to go in his career.

Fitz: Did he put his hand out and say, “Thank you, Darren”?

DC: He thanked everybody. He gave us all a hug. Italians are very touchy people as you know, so not only group hugs, but plenty of individual hugs.

Fitz: Well, having spent a rugby season in Italy, I am sure you also got a lot of male kisses on both cheeks?

DC: [Laughing] No kisses!

Fitz: Are you getting calls from up-and-comers and veterans alike, and does one of them have the last name of “Kyrgios” and the first name of “Nick”?

DC: [Laughs.] No, I’m committed to Jannik Sinner.

Fitz: But look, Kyrgios has to have more talent in his little finger than most players on the tour have in their whole bodies! Surely, he’s a natural fit for you?

DC: Come on, you wouldn’t ask Craig McRae, who’s just taken Collingwood to a premiership, whether or not he would go and coach Richmond? I’m absolutely committed to Jannik!

Fitz: OK. Come in, Sinner. This column is going to be read by thousands of weekend hackers, and I am one of them. You are the world’s most accomplished tennis coach. You gotta give us something, Coach, particularly those of us with high tennis IQ. We’re all leaning in to hear your words. We want to remember the thing Coach Darren Cahill said to us: “If you really want to win your tennis match this weekend, you gotta ...”

DC: “Play to your strength.” It’s no different to any other sport. “Play to your strengths. Limit your unforced errors on your weaker side and look to finish points on your stronger side.” It’s the advice that goes from the juniors to the club players to the guys that are playing for grand slams. It’s the way Jannik finished on Sunday night, that got the original break at 3-2 in the fifth set. It was a forehand down the line. It’s his best shot. And it was a forehand down the line for him to win match point.

Fitz: Love it. I’m gonna pass it on to my playing partner, Greg, and we’re gonna tear Dave the Dentist and Marty apart this weekend, and I will report back. Thank you, Coach. “Forehand down the line”, “Forehand down the line”. I’ll remember!

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