Jannik Sinner Explains Why Coach Darren Cahill’s Presence is Crucial in 2026 Season

Jannik Sinner set his name down in the record books on Sunday (March 29). In the Miami Open final, his comprehensive 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jiri Lehecka has made him the eighth man to complete the Sunshine Double.

Prior to the match, the Italian ace sat for an interview with Romanian newspaper Digi Sport, during which he talked about his relationship with coach Darren Cahill. The Aussie has decided to extend his coaching partnership with the four-time Grand Slam champion for this season.

Darren is a very important part of our team; he keeps us all together. His experience is crucial in special moments, especially when things don’t go the way we’d like. After the ATP Finals, we had a nice chat. We talked about several things in general, we took a step towards each other, and for me, the situation was favorable. 

Cahill and coach Simone Vagnozzi joined his team back in 2022 and helped the youngster become the World No.1 player, win two ATP Finals titles, as well as the four Majors. And now, he has completed the Sunshine Double under them. Cahill wanted to leave Sinner’s team after the 2025 season, but neither the World No.2 nor Vagnozzi wanted to part ways with him.

I’m happy he can stay for another year, it’s very important for the level I’m at now. The chemistry between him and Simone is excellent. They get along really well, they trust each other a lot. The decision to stay with me was an excellent one.

Jannik Sinner added

This Sunday, Sinner played his fourth final in Miami. After reaching the title clash on his debut run in 2021 and losing the match to Hubert Hurkacz, the former World No.1 fell to 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev in the final back in 2023, but the following season, he finally tasted success by defeating Grigor Dimitrov.

He skipped both the Sunshine Double events last year due to his three-month doping ban. Before this Miami Open, Sinner lifted his career’s first Indian Wells title with a straight-set win over Medvedev.

Jiri Lehecka is satisfied with his performance against Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner has become the first man since Roger Federer in 2017 to complete the Sunshine Double. The straight-set win over Jiri Lehecka has also made him the first man to accomplish this without dropping a set.

The win has helped Sinner improve his head-to-head record over the Czech ace to a perfect 4-0. After playing his career’s first final in a Masters 1000 tournament, Lehecka, who has now reached a career-best No.14 in rankings, said he was satisfied with his performance but admitted there’s a lot of room for improvement.

I think that these matches, like today against these guys, are showing me that there is still big, big, big room for improvement. I played, in my opinion, a very good tournament here. I was very satisfied with my game. But today I again saw that there is still somewhere to go, and that I will really need to keep improving more and more if I want to be able to beat these guys in the final stages of these big events like Masters and Grand Slams.

Sinner has now become a seven-time champion in Masters 1000 events and has also added 13 Big Titles to his trophy cabinet. He has yet to drop a set at the Masters 1000 level since handing the walkover to Tallon Griekspoor in the third round of last year’s Shanghai Masters. He is on a 17-match winning streak in these events, as before achieving the Sunshine Double, he lifted last year’s Paris Masters against Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Also read: Coco Gauff Mentions the Olympian Who Inspired Her During Miami Open Run

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