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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 27, 2020Darren CahillArtemon Apostu-EfremovMelbourne, Victoria, Australia THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. On a tragic note, can you share your thoughts about Kobe Bryant? DARREN CAHILL: No, I felt sick this morning when I woke up and saw the news. We at ESPN had Novak on the desk a couple of days ago. We did a 16-minute interview with Novak. We've never done a 16-minute interview with an athlete while tennis is going on. It was so good. The last three or four minutes he spoke about the relationship that he has, as Kobe being one of his mentors. And during the interview I actually felt goose bumps from the words he was talking about. And then for this to happen two days later, it's shattering. I've never met Kobe. Certainly I looked up to what he used to do as an athlete, as a professional, an incredible basketball player. My heart goes out to all of his family and friends. I'm sure, like everybody, we're just shattered to hear that news. And especially his daughter passing away, as well. I couldn't think of anything worse. My two kids are here. They are 18 and 15. I could not get my head around that. I felt sick this morning. Q. Have Andre or Lleyton or any of the other players you've worked with met him or had thoughts about him, to your knowledge? DARREN CAHILL: Not that I know of. Andre obviously has met and spoken about sport to lots of famous athletes. He's spoken about lots. Not that he's told me any stories about Kobe. But, you know, I think he has one of those Mamba's fitness places in Vegas, as well, one of those training places in Vegas. And everything I hear about what he's doing in life after basketball and how he's trying to change people's lives has been inspiring. It's just shocking news to hear of his passing. Q. I was watching a video of you talking to Tony Jones saying you were watching Nick as a fan. How are you watching Ash Barty through the lens of an opponent coach? DARREN CAHILL: As a coach (smiling). Q. Even before getting to the final? Is it fan and then a coach, or does it change? DARREN CAHILL: No, I think that I'm Australian, so everything that Ash has done in the last two or three years has been inspiring for all of us. And it's not just what she's been able to do between the lines. It's the way she's been able to do it and the way she's conducted herself outside of the lines. She's an inspiration for not only the young generation here in Australia but for everybody. My generation, as well. She epitomizes what we think Australians are all about. And that is hard work, give it your best shot, being really humble in success, and shaking somebody's hand if they are too good for you and saying, Well played, mate. You were too good today. That is Ash Barty. I think that sums her up. The fact that she won the Young Australian of the Year Award at the honours, Australia Day Honours, she thoroughly deserves that because she is genuinely a great person. I'm really happy for her. If we are lucky enough, Arte and I, to be coaching against her on Saturday, that would be a good problem to have. Q. I know you were always in contact with Simona last year, but she would tell us she was trying to take a little bit more of a relaxed approach to the year and not put too much pressure on herself. Now that you're with her again full time, have you noticed a difference in her how she is away from the court, on the court? DARREN CAHILL: Am I putting too much pressure on her? I think she's the same, honestly. We would speak most days, even last year when we weren't working together. We're friends. As I have said many times before, she's really a part of my family. I told that story about thinking I was doing the right thing for my family over 12 months ago when I came home and said, Hey, kids, I'm taking a year off work and I'm going to be around a little bit more, and my daughter started crying. I thought she was really happy but she was pissed that I was leaving Simona. That's what she means to my family. So not much changed. I just wasn't at as many tournaments, obviously. I spoke to her most days at Wimbledon last year, spoke to her most days during the U.S. hard court season, and we started working a little bit together before Shenzhen. As far as I'm concerned, the relationship is exactly the same. She's still as stressed on the court as she always is, but she's learning ways to deal with it and to handle it. Arte and I spoke after that 4-All game that second set today after letting two breaks slip and then having chances in the 4-3 game, got back to 4-All, had breakpoints in the 4-All game, missed them. One ball I think was a challenge on the side of the line. The old Simona would have let that game go, but she refused to give up in that game. That's what I'm most proud of is that fight that she's showing when a few things go against her. That's been the big change in her I have seen over the last two or three years. Q. WTA are going to let coaching from the stands be allowed for next month with, you know, hand signals and a few words of encouragement. What are your thoughts on that? ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: Well, I think it's a step that should have been taken quite a while ago, because coaches are part of the game. Mostly in all the sports you see coaches interact with the athletes. Obviously WTA introduced the on-court coaching, which it has its benefits also for the players, also for the viewers. I think it will go to the stage that the coach would be allowed to sit on the bench like in a Fed Cup or a Davis Cup. I think it's the proper way to -- I mean, the coaches are almost nonstop with the players. So just to put them out of the game for the match when actually it matters the most, it's a little bit awkward. But I think it will be interesting, and we'll see how it evolves from there. Because it's not like the way they do it in quallies. You can come and chat on the side. It's kind of in between. So we'll see how it goes, and hopefully it will go the right way. DARREN CAHILL: Yeah, I'm for it. I'm big on tradition. I'm old. So I love the whole tradition of tennis and the one-on-one and problem-solving and what you're trying to do. But I think we're evolving as a sport. We can see the 10-point tiebreaker here at 6-All. Who would have thought 20 years ago we'd be playing a 10-point tiebreak? But I think it's one of the greatest things we have seen here at the Australian Open. These 10-point tiebreaks, that building of the suspense and the pressure. I released a little video a couple of nights ago about my two kids when they were watching Kyrgios. And they were jumping up and down like idiots for the last 10 minutes. I loved it. I thought it was -- that's what tennis is, to bring that young generation into the game, to have fun. Coaching is a part of that, as well. Grand Slams, put that aside, we have the four Grand Slams, that's fine. But for the ATP and the WTA, we need to evolve. And I think bringing coaching into those events is important. I know the WTA wants to do it, and they want to do it the right way. That's why Steve Simon is bringing this trial in. I think they can go further and do it more. Even today, you know, if I was allowed to coach today, you'd be surprised how little coaching the coaches will do if they're allowed to do it. The reason why probably a lot of it goes on at the moment is because you're not allowed to do it so you're trying to get the sneaky coaching message across. But if you were allowed to do it, it's a simple one line: Hey, Simona, hold your line. Okay, that's coaching. But it's not over-the-top coaching. That would have been my message to her today because she was falling back a little bit. So it's something really simple that can make a big difference to the players. We are trying to make the players better, we're trying to make the sport better, we're trying to make the coaches better. You'd also be surprised how much the coaches, especially on the WTA, work together to help each other and to make each other better. It's a very small cliquey group that care about each other. We feel a bit gutted when one of the coaches actually gets removed from a job. Everybody is looking to help everybody. I think as an industry, a coaching industry in tennis, it's important that we do evolve and do this. I'm really for it. I think the WTA is doing a good thing. I actually think and agree with Arte, it will go further as time goes on. ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: Also, I think it will take away this -- because, okay, Darren speaks English but I speak Romanian. Many times the umpires or the officials, they don't know if you're coaching or just say, Come on, next point. It's valid for any other, let's say, language that's... DARREN CAHILL: My Romanian is pretty good, too. ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: Except (speaking Romanian) (smiling). DARREN CAHILL: Yeah. Q. Simona could play Iga Swiatek next. There's been a few matches at this tournament where a player, Serena against Wang Qiang, clobbered her at the US Open, and then Naomi Osaka against Coco Gauff, who also clobbered her at the US Open, come back and lose. Simona had a very easy match against Iga at Roland Garros. Curious how you prepare someone to face someone who they really had no problem with last time. ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: Is that match finished? Q. Not finished. 3-All in the second. ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: Long way. DARREN CAHILL: We're professionals. We know that when she played in Paris, a little bit deer in the headlights. We've all been through it. I've been through it as a player as well. That match will get pushed to one side. We've watched enough of her play. Swiatek's a great player, good future. I've watched a ton of her tennis. If she gets through that, that will be a new challenge. Not much from that French Open match we will take out of it. We will go back and do a lot of research on her hard court matches and try to find ways that we can hopefully get Simona over the line. But big, big future. We've seen the young generation and what they are capable of here at the WTA, this tournament. Even coming into the tournament, everybody was talking about, well, there are 15 or 20 players that are capable of winning this. Yeah, that's true. Everybody is capable. Simona will be as nervous in the next match as she was before this one. The great thing about the WTA at the moment is there are so many great story lines coming through from different nationalities, from different types of players. It's in a pretty healthy situation at the moment, and the matches have been great. We keep our fingers crossed and hope they continue to be. Q. You were talking earlier about the 4-All game and how maybe a couple of years ago Simona wouldn't have won that. Do you feel like having won the two Grand Slam titles, has that kind of given her that little bit of extra belief she needed? DARREN CAHILL: Actually, Arte can answer this because he's Romanian. He's seen the changes in her over the last four or five years. He's probably a better one to answer this, actually. ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: I have known Simona from when she was like 15, 16, when she was winning at 15 some futures events. I have seen her play. And then I have been on tour with Irina for five years, so... DARREN CAHILL: They practice together all the time. ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: They practice together, they play doubles together. I could see Simona evolving over the years. So obviously she improved the game, but I think for her the biggest improvement was when she was like around 60 that year she went up, she changed her attitude towards the game, and she understood better the concept of the game. She let the matches that she lost go away and focused on the next match. This was a big change. It's a process that goes on and on. For sure, having Grand Slams under your belt helps a lot, because these are the confirmations that you need that you're on the right track, but I think in order to be a very good player, you have to evolve as a person inside and outside the court. DARREN CAHILL: Once you strip away all the stuff that she does on the court and you see the emotions and that Romanian fire in the belly and everything she does to get to the finish line, she loves the game, and she loves to compete. I think that every tennis player needs to find their purpose. We have seen it with Nick here in the last four or five weeks. Until you find your real purpose and why you're getting onto the court and doing all the work every morning and getting up and grinding and going through the blood, sweat, tears, doesn't make much sense. She's been able to -- when Arte was talking about, when she was 60 in the world, she has a real realization, but this is what she really wants to do and this is what she wouldn't want to be in any other place in the world. She loves the competitive nature, she loves the competition, she loves the fight. She might at times look like she's not enjoying it, but she loves it. One of the great things about her is that if she was to lose one of those battles, 10 minutes later after a loss, she's all good and ready for the next one. I think that's a real competitor. Q. I just wanted to ask you about something you said earlier about the coaches helping each other. Could you share a bit more about that and what exactly you guys do to help each other? DARREN CAHILL: We have the coaches association with the WTA, so we get together and talk about all things coaching related. But you'd be surprised about analytics, speaking about analytics. We pay for analytics separate to what we can get through the WTA to make sure we are turning over every stone. Many coaches come to us and ask us what type of stuff we are looking for, breaking down the Hawk-Eye stuff. If somebody's out of a job at that particular time, a lot of the coaches will fire around a quick message, Listen, if you hear anything that's available, can you help us out? That type of stuff is going on all the time. There is a real camaraderie between the WTA coaches. I'm not 100% sure if it's same on the ATP, I think it is on ATP, but I have been on the WTA now for the last five or six years, and it's a nice feeling when even though you're going up against these guys on a daily basis, you feel like everybody's got each other's back. I don't know how it's come to that, but it's a pretty good feeling. I think also the fact there are a lot of us are family people, you've got three kids, I've got a couple of kids, we spend 30, 35 weeks on the road together, and it's not easy to leave your families, and this life, this WTA, come your player, come the coaches, come your team, actually becomes your life. I think that's how it's evolved. ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: And it is easy to understand that you're not going to face the other player every other day, so there are times when you don't meet that player all the year or in two years. So it's no reason to hold grudge or stuff like that. It's just we are in the same company, let's say, and we still have to work together on many aspects to make the game better. Yeah, this is how it is. DARREN CAHILL: Torben Beltz stayed in my place in Vegas about a year and a half ago when he was holidaying at the end of the year and played golf. We are all looking to do whatever we can for each other. It's not an easy life, and sometimes the pay for a lot of the coaches is not great, either. You have to have a realization that it's not -- we're lucky. We're coaching one of the great players in the world, and our lives are good. But not everybody has it like we do. We all try to help each other as much as we can. Q. Darren and Simona have been working with each other for a long time. I know you know her really well, as well. What's it like entering a team when there is already that strong dynamic? What has it been like for you? ARTEMON APOSTU-EFREMOV: It helped a lot that we had previous, let's say, relation. Tennis in Romania, it's not that big, so we kind of know each other. We cross paths during our careers, either players or coaches. So I have seen her many times play. As Darren said, she was practicing with Irina when I was with her, and they played doubles together. They really played some good tournaments together. They did semis in Madrid. So I have been around them a little bit, so the transition was not that difficult. Also it helps a lot that Darren, it's very relaxed and they communicate very good, and also Simona enjoys a lot playing, which I really do, as well. So, like, from her first practice we started playing and we felt good with each other. Yeah. That's how it goes. Q. Ons Jabeur and Sofia Kenin, what do you make of their runs so far? DARREN CAHILL: Well, I think Simona played Sofia here last year, and she's lost to Ons. I was there when I think she got a win over in China, a retirement. But still, Ons outplayed her in the first set. Both incredibly talented. Again, goes to the stories that we have on the WTA at the moment that Sofia can be ranked 12 or 13 in the world and flying under the radar a little bit. Kind of amazing. She's 21 years of age, she's a gun, a great player. She has that Simona fierce determination about her, as well. Great family. Her dad is a wonderful man. Kind of feels like he stresses through every point when he's watching on the outside. I'm stressing on the inside. He's stressing on the outside. So I kind of relate to what he's going through. I'm sure he's very proud of what Sofia's been able to do. Ons has had a different journey to get to this point. Both great players, and would be no surprise to see either one of those players get through to the finals. Back to that question about the coaching and the small group working together, you guys are doing exactly the same what we are doing. You guys are all reporters and probably working against each other to sell stories and whatnot. And yet I daresay you guys have the same camaraderie, especially the ones traveling 30, 35 weeks a year that we have. I think that's the way to best explain it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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