LONDON (AP) — Jannik Sinner's Wimbledon title might mean he'll be able to keep Darren Cahill around as one of his coaches beyond this season — by winning the friendly wager they made before Sunday's final at the All England Club.
Back in January, while Sinner was on his way to winning the Australian Open, it came out that Cahill would be leaving his role as one of the No. 1-ranked player's two coaches at the end of the 2025.
After Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 for the championship at Wimbledon on Sunday, Cahill was asked whether he would reconsider the decision to depart the team.
“I don’t want to answer this,” Cahill responded. “You know what? You just need to ask Jannik that.”
So an Italian reporter followed those instructions and did put the topic to Sinner, who smiled and paused.
“It depends,” Sinner began, “Whether I want to tell the truth or not.”
And then he proceeded to explain the whole situation in Italian, revealing that maybe Cahill's exit is not set in stone, after all.
That's because the two of them had a conversation on Saturday night.
“We had a bet before the final. He said: ‘If you win tomorrow, you can decide whether or not I stay,’” Sinner recounted. “Now the choice is mine. I’ve always looked for a person who is honest, a person who gives me a lot, not necessarily only on the tennis court, but (about) how to live.”
Sinner went on to say that he would love to have Cahill stick around. Sinner also did acknowledge that if Cahill did continue to work alongside co-coach Simone Vagnozzi, Cahill probably would not travel on tour as much as he does currently.
“The season is long. There are a lot of tournaments. You never know,” Sinner said. “But let’s just say I won the bet, and so we’ll see what happens.”
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich. More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press
