Jannik Sinner has opened up on his coaching arrangement with Darren Cahill, whom he sees as a “second father”. At the beginning of the 2025 season, it emerged that Cahill would leave Sinner’s camp at the end of the year. But the Aussie tennis coach seemed open to changing his mind after striking a Wimbledon-related deal with the team.
Sinner now has just three tournaments left before the end of the season, and he’s still not sure whether Cahill will commit to staying in his camp. But the world No. 2 is hopeful that he can win the 60-year-old round.
The Italian is back in action at this week’s ATP 500 tournament in Vienna, where he’s hoping to lift the trophy for the second time. But Sinner has something else on his mind – Cahill’s future.
As the season draws to a close, the four-time Major winner knows that he will need to convince the renowned tennis coach to stay on after they initially agreed to end their partnership at the end of 2025.
“We haven’t talked yet, to be honest. We said we are going to finish the year, and then we might ask him for a long chat, trying to convince him,” Sinner told ATP Media ahead of the Vienna Open.
“But in any case, if he stays or not, he has been an amazing person and obviously a coach for me to hold the whole team together in the tough moments.
“He is like a second father to me, so I’m happy to have him here. It’s a huge privilege to work with him. We aim for something very positive [for him to stay], and I will need a lot of hope for that.”
It’s been an impressive season for Sinner, who won two Grand Slam titles and finished runner-up at the other two Majors, despite serving a three-month ban from February to May, and he’s hoping it will be enough to convince Cahill.
He added: “The results have been amazing, so I will try to make it happen for my own wellbeing. So I need that. He’s been important because I see the effort he puts in, working with a 24-year-old kid flying all over the world and putting in a lot of effort.
“He has family, he has many, many important things to do also off the court and managing this and always putting me basically in the first place, it has been amazing and I’m very sure we can, we can make something very positive.”
Sinner already has some hope that Cahill is willing to keep working with him. When the world No. 2 won his first Wimbledon title this summer, Cahill himself hinted that he agreed to change his mind if Sinner triumphed at SW19, and the Italian confirmed that they’d made something of a bet.
“I don’t want to answer this,” Cahill smiled when asked if he’d changed his mind. “You know what, you just need to ask Jannik that. Ask Jannik. Are you guys going to be in the press conference with him? God bless you.”
Speaking during the Italian portion of his press conference a few minutes later, Sinner joked: “It depends if I want to tell the truth or not. We made a bet before the final, I told him that if I won, I could choose whether he could stay or not at the end of the year. Now the choice is mine!”
