“I don’t want to talk so much about his retirement.” That is what Jannik Sinner said about Darren Cahill at the 2025 Australian Open. Back then, the Australian was all set to leave after the 2025 season, but the bond he shared with the former World No. 1 was enough to persuade him to stay on for one more year. Now, flash forward to November of 2026, and Cahill is well and truly on his way out, with the Italian having nothing but glowing words of praise for his former coach.
“Darren, when we started working together in 2022, I was just a skinny young Italian guy with a lot of questions,” said Sinner in an emotional video on X. “You never gave me all the answers. You helped me find them myself. You came in as one of my coaches. Pretty quickly, you became a lot more than that. Someone I could trust. Someone I could rely on. A friend. Melbourne. The first Slam. Number one. Wimbledon. I could keep going. We’ve been through so much together. You told me you would stop after 2025. And somehow, I couldn’t seem to get rid of you. But the trophies aren’t what I will remember the most.
“Even the days when everything felt heavy,” said Sinner. “You were there for all of it. I always knew I was in good hands. Not just me. Everyone who travels with us. Everyone behind the scenes. With you, we are more than a team. You’ve taught me a lot. That tennis is important. But it’s not everything. That being a good player starts with being a good person.”
While he may not have given Sinner all the answers, Cahill certainly gave the most important ones to the Italian when he joined in the middle of the 2022 season. The World No. 2 had just ended his long-term collaboration with Ricardo Piatti and needed someone by his side who had the tools to convert his potential into a winning machine on the Tour. Along with Simone Vagnozzi, Cahill formed a formidable coaching set-up, with the Australian providing Sinner with the mental and emotional roadmap required to become a Grand Slam champion.
Aside from helping Sinner with mental conditioning, Cahill helped introduce technical developments to the Italian’s game. When the Australian came on board, the Italian was mostly reliant on his baseline power and was known for his high-risk hitting. Cahill worked with the former World No.1 to change the approach and mix caution with aggression in his shots during big matches, while also bringing in drop-shot variety into the Italian’s game. Not to mention, the duo of Cahill and Vagnozzi worked hard to change the ball toss and serve motion for the Italian so that he could use his serve to win free points.
Joining in 2022, it took some time for Cahill’s developmental changes to bear fruit, but in the latter half of the 2023 season, Sinner started to make his move, winning his maiden Masters title in Canada, while reaching the final of the ATP Finals, and helping Italy win the Davis Cup. That winning momentum helped the Italian in the 2024 season, where he won two Slams and finished with a 73-8 win-loss record, reaching World No. 1.
One click on the internet is all one needs to find the numbers the duo shared, which were 33 Tour-level finals together, with Sinner winning 25 titles, including five Majors and ten Masters 1000 titles. However, it is beyond the numbers that Cahill’s influence made its mark with Sinner. During his Australian Open match against Holger Rune in 2025, or his match against Elliot Spizzirri in Melbourne this year, it was Cahill who constantly motivated the Italian to keep going, even as he was wilting in the brutal heat.
The two Wimbledon titles that Sinner won in 2025 and 2026 were followed by significant French Open setbacks. While he could not convert match points against Carlos Alcaraz in the 2025 Roland Garros final, Sinner had a spectacular physical breakdown in Paris this year, losing to Juan Manuel Cerundolo despite being one game away from victory. On both occasions, the Italian’s team, under Cahill’s guidance, helped him regroup, leading to two title runs at SW19.
The Sinner-Cahill partnership is not the only coaching partnership to end in 2026. Players like Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jiri Lehecka have ended their long-term coaching collaborations with Frédéric Fontang and Michal Navrátil, respectively. Even someone like Daniil Medvedev parted ways with Thomas Johansson, taking on former ATP player Andrey Golubev as his new coach.
As for Sinner, the Italian welcomed his new coach to his team, news that was already reported, but the Italian made it official on the day of Cahill’s departure.
Jannik Sinner Welcomes Magnus Norman as His New Coach
As reported earlier, Magnus Norman will be Cahill’s successor on Sinner’s team. With Stan Wawrinka retiring from the sport, the Swedish coach was snapped up by the Italian’s team and is set to partner with Vagnozzi next season.
Norman, founder of the “Good to Great” Tennis Academy in Sweden, has a coaching resume that reflects a similar mindset. The Swede took the likes of Robin Soderling and Stan Wawrinka from good Top-20 players to Grand Slam contenders, with the Swiss winning three Major titles under Norman’s tutelage.
Joining Sinner’s team, Norman could be instrumental in developing individual tactical matchups for specific opponents, most likely Carlos Alcaraz in Sinner’s case. The Swedish coach has succeeded in doing so with Soderling and Warinka, helping them with specific tactics to overcome the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, respectively. However, as of now, his primary focus would presumably be on helping Sinner return to full fitness, with the Italian out of action since Wimbledon in July due to a knee injury.