"Basically he’s been on hold since then" - Jannik Sinner's coach been kept in the dark over availability amid knee problems

Jannik Sinner's knee injury has become worse than many people have expected. The World No.1 left it late to pull out of a string of tournaments before making the hard decision to skip the rest of 2026 and focus on a return in 2027. Brad Gilbert offered some insight evolving around Darren Cahill's perspective of events, not being clued up to the extent he probably should have been.

After dominating most of the 2026 campaign, Sinner's season came crashing down. He had won five consecutive Masters 1000 titles in this season and blasted his way to more Grand Slam glory at Wimbledon, successfully defending his title against Alexander Zverev.

That was the last time he had competed on court. He ends this campaign with just three defeats, although he had played in a lot fewer events than he would have wanted. Skipping the entire North American hardcourt swing, the China Open and Shanghai Masters were next ticked off before he made the announcement that all tournaments were off the radar, including title defences in Vienna, Paris and Turin in the ATP Finals.

It is a painful blow which will now see Zverev become the World No.1, and give his rivals more of a chance to bridge that once insurmountable gap to the Italian.

It was not smooth sailing for the team. Cahill, one of Sinner's coaches, was not told until the very last minute about his abrupt Cincinnati withdrawal, according to Gilbert, who detailed his knowledge on the Big T Podcast.

“I’ve been speaking to Darren a lot, and it started with he was on his way to the airport from Los Angeles, going to Cincinnati, when he got the call that they’re not going," he said. "And basically he’s been on hold since then. And I think it’s like one of these very frustrating things."

He also questioned Sinner's method when it came to visiting doctors in the recovery process. “It’s like he listens to the doctors. He takes a few days off, goes back, and hits; some days he’s fine. And then he gets that pain in the kneecap.Now you hope it’s not too many cooks in the kitchen, like he has three different doctors. I think he went to France. He’s going to Italy.

"And I think it’s probably one of those tough decisions where now he’s going to shut down the rest of the season and rely on rest and strengthening."

Gilbert threw surgery back into the picture as a more obvious solution. "So no surgery. So can you imagine if we fast forward to December and early January, when he really ramps up to get ready for Australia, and this pain hasn’t gone away? Then all of a sudden, it could linger. Because normally with this long, you want to think, is surgery an option? Usually it’s the last option. But now surgery is not like it was 30 years ago, if it’s a scope. But highly unusual.”

It has been a troubling year for the ATP Tour. It was touted as another year of dominance between Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, with the pair already playing some thrillers against each other. They would only come up against each other once, in the final of the Monte-Carlo Masters.

Alcaraz would pull out of the Barcelona Open with a wrist injury before spending over four months away from the sport, finally returning at the US Open and is back competing regularly on the ATP Tour. His emergence back in the spotlight is in tandem with Sinner not featuring on court for a length of time.

This led Gilbert to lavishly praise Roger Federer for staying in immaculate condition for so long, competing in 65 successive Grand Slam events while navigating what could be the tricky issue involving injuries, managing his body to perfection.

“Honestly, I don’t ever remember a year where the top two guys started and have been so dominant the last two and a half years and missed so much time during the year," he admitted. “Staying healthy is a unique challenge. It kind of makes you think about how many consecutive majors Federer played it? Wow.”