"We made a pact at Wimbledon": Darren Cahill confirms that he will stay with Jannik Sinner for another year

Darren Cahill confirmed he will stay on to work with Jannik Sinner for another year, following a great season in which the Italian secured two Grand Slam titles. The Australian coach had announced earlier in the season that this would be his last year coaching the Italian star, but he ultimately changed his mind.

Back in January of this year—shortly after Sinner won his second Australian Open title—it was reported that it would be Cahill's final season with the team. The former coach of Andre Agassi and Simona Halep had been anticipating retirement from coaching due to the Australian's personal priorities and desire to spend more time with his family after decades of extensive travel on the ATP Tour.

There were reports that Sinner would do everything possible to convince Cahill to stay, seeking some flexibility to keep him on the team. The World No. 1 himself claimed that before Wimbledon, he proposed a change to Cahill if he won the trophy. "I told him that if I won [the Wimbledon title], I could choose whether he could stay or not at the end of the year," Sinner said in an interview.

"Now the choice is mine! If I choose to continue with him, he will probably travel less, that's normal. I always told him that in Australia, I would like to have him with me, because things are going well," Jannik Sinner added. "Afterwards, the season is still long, there are still a lot of tournaments and I will still see him often... But I won the bet, now we will see!"

Although some doubt remained about Cahill's future, the Australian coach finally clarified his decision. "I am a man of my word, and we made a pact at Wimbledon. My future is in Jannik's hands. If he wants, I will stay," Darren Cahill said ahead of the ATP Finals.

Meanwhile, Sinner is preparing with his team—led by Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi—to defend his title at the ATP Finals, while still holding onto the possibility of finishing the year atop the ranking—though for that, he will need an early elimination of Carlos Alcaraz.

During the pre-tournament press conferences, Alexander Zverev was asked if he preferred to face Alcaraz or Sinner in the Round Robin phase, and the German did not hesitate to choose the Spaniard. "I think Jannik [Sinner] is the best player in the world, and I think if you ask Carlos [Alcaraz], Carlos would probably agree."

Sinner recently addressed the words of World No. 3 Zverev but demonstrated humility when a journalist mentioned the German's praise. "In my opinion, it is a mistake to think that you are the number one in the world. I always prefer to think that I am number two, because that way you know there is always work to be done," commented the 4-time major champion. "The numbers are what they are, okay, but I always try to motivate myself in other ways. I am happy with what Zverev said; I know I am strong on indoor courts and I am aware of it, but as soon as you relax for a moment, it's chaos."

Sinner is preparing for his debut this Monday against the 8th seed Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, in what will be a repeat of the recent Paris Masters final, where the Italian claimed the victory 6-4, 7-6(4). The head-to-head is 3-2 so far, although Sinner has won the last three consecutive meetings, all of them during the last three months in the Cincinnati Open quarterfinals (6-0, 6-2), US Open semi-finals (6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4), and Paris.