Australian Open: Simona Halep responds to Darren Cahill’s therapy

Dumped by her Australian coach over her intolerable diva antics, Simona Halep admits only his ‘shock therapy’ snapped her out of it.

Simona Halep with her coach Darren Cahill during a practice session at Melbourne Park.

There’s an area under Rod Laver Arena that resembles an abandoned car park. It’s where players go to stretch and settle their thoughts before matches.

One television screen is in the middle of a barren and unglamorous place that is filled with a silent tension before matches. Barely a word is spoken down here. Players steer clear of each other, pretending their opponent does not exist. Coaches only speak when spoken to, which is basically never.

Darren Cahill was in the dungeon with Simona Halep before her rousing semi-final win against Angelique Kerber on Thursday. She was trembling with nerves and appeared to be bracing herself for an act of courage. You nearly forgot she was about to have a hit of tennis.

About 15 metres away, Cahill had one eye on the television monitor: it was the final moments of Wozniacki’s semi-final win over Elise Mertens. Cahill wore a black cap and black sunglasses. When Wozniacki started her post-match interview, Cahill and Halep stood together and watched the broadcast with an intense interest. They glared at the image of Wozniacki until she started walking away from Rod Laver Arena. That was their cue to start walking in.

Cahill spoke softly to his player as they departed. I could not hear him, but the body language was reassuring. Encouraging. The thought occurred that while Halep has never been to where she’s trying to go tonight — winning a major — she has a coach who knows the landscape. Halep is aware of her good fortune because less than a year ago, Cahill told her to get nicked. “I just felt that it was like a shock,” Halep said at the time. “Because I lost the coach.”

Cahill had supercoach status as the mentor of Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi. Halep came under his wing — she was capable, big-hearted, small at 167cm, punching above her weight, ambitious, committed but incredibly self-destructive.

Halep was dumped by Cahill in a bid to snap her out of her stroppy ways.

No one had been bold enough to pull her into line, to tell her to stop pouting like a flustered princess, to stop shooting herself in the foot. The fire in Halep’s belly was a plus. The impetuousness and negativity was a minus.

She was in a strop during a three-set loss to Johanna Konta at last year’s Miami Masters when Cahill, as per the WTA Tour rules, joined her on the court at a change of ends.

“You have an opportunity to make a difference,” Cahill told Halep in a defining moment of her career. “That’s all I can say. You’ve been in this position many times before and most times, you’re coming out second best.

“Right now you have an opportunity to change things. It’s up to you. You can decide what you want to do here. You can go down this path and that’s fine.

“Or you can take a deep breath, put your towel on your head and try and get a little better in these situations. It’s as simple as that. It’s up to you. It comes from within.

“It’s no problem venting and getting all this stuff out, that’s no problem, as long as you are willing to make a difference.

“And if she beats you playing great tennis, no worries. Shake her hand and tell her well done.”

Halep sooked all the way through it.

“This is my character,” she told Cahill without looking at him. “I am so bad. I am ridiculously bad.”

She went back to her old ways and lost. She walked off the court like a Hollywood actress storming off a stage. Cahill ended their partnership. She was aghast. She said she wanted him back. He told her to prove it. She reached the semi-finals at Stuttgart, won Madrid and reached the final at Rome without the hissy-fits. He rejoined her at the French Open.

“I was putting myself down,” Halep said. “All the time on the court, I put myself very down during the match. I don’t have any problem with anyone. It’s just my personality to be hard on myself.

“I want to change that in the future. I can say that I’m better than before, and I’m working on it. He never had something to complain about my game … just my attitude. I knew that is the only one thing that I have to change to have him back.

“I can understand everything he says about the game. So I work hard, and I changed. Now I’m happy that I can be positive on court. I will never be negative. I felt ashamed about what I did.”

Halep during practice for the Brisbane International back in 2015. Picture: Darren England.

Cahill was Hewitt’s driving force when he won Wimbledon and became world No 1. He masterminded Agassi’s late-career resurgence and dominance. They were confident and fearless individuals, but Halep has proved to be a more complex soul for Cahill to work with.

She’s topped the world rankings since they reunited but winning a major has been the driving ambition since they ended their five-week split.

“I’ve watched it a couple of times,” Cahill said of the incident at Miami. “It’s difficult to watch because, what do you say in those moments? I know that it was normal to vent. Bang, bang, bang. I understood it but I also knew that she had to stop it. Finding a way to stop it was difficult for me. So stepping away — that was maybe a little bit of shock therapy as well. She had to decide whether she still wanted me to be involved. Maybe we were at the point where my message wasn’t getting across and somebody else’s message would be better.”

In an interview with Romania’s Digi Sport, Cahill added: “I only wanted what was best for her. I only wanted her to get the most out of her career. If someone else could get her to where she wanted to go, all good. It’s all about what drives you. You get a negative situation and try to find a positive in it. You go, how can we get better? That’s my job.”

Halep and Wozniacki stand on the verge of a life-changing moment tonight. One of them will end the heartache of having never lifted the trophy at a grand slam tournament.

Halep has probably suffered more over the years. She’s been through serious ankle injuries, awkward attention on her breast-reduction surgery, shattering defeats in important matches and emotional rollercoasters at virtually every turn.

In her first tournament back with Cahill last year, Halep roared into the French Open final against Jelena Ostapenko. She led by a set and 3-0, her moment beckoned, but she lost. She still has dreams about that match. They’re terrible recurring dreams in which she loses to Ostapenko all over again.

“Maybe I can make this a better match,” Halep said of a winner-takes-all Australian Open final that will unveil the new face of women’s tennis.

Halep has lost her clothing sponsor despite holding the world No 1 ranking that goes on the line against Wozniacki. She will wear a little red dress that she ordered online from a Chinese seamstress in the off-season.

Halep, in the red outfit she ordered off the internet, is without a sponsor.

“Bigger than No 1,” she said of the prospect of winning a major. “It is my dream. I don’t believe the moment is going to affect me. I was in this position at the French Open. I can just make this more relaxed and take it like a normal match. I don’t want to think about the result. Just step-by-step. I take it like it’s a nice thing with good thoughts. Nothing else. I’ve had this opportunity two times. It’s always tough when you’re close but maybe now I will be better. You never know. I feel more experienced. I feel mentally stronger. I was too negative before, but I’m trying to change that. My coach has told me it’s different. They way I’m playing now is different.”

Cahill and Halep will return to the dungeon in the tense minutes before the final on Rod Laver Arena tonight. He’s likely to keep his distance until Halep starts walking towards the court and he heads for his front-row seat. He will reassure her again. Encourage her again.

When she was treating Cahill poorly at Miami, he said to her: “What do you want? Be exact.” She wanted then what she wants now. A win. A composed performance. Watch her during the final. She will look for Cahill between the majority of points. A steadfast and loyal individual is in her corner.

“You can write yourself off,” he told her when she was doing exactly that at Miami. He scratched his head and took a deep breath and delivered the most telling comment of all: “But I’m not writing you off.”