AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 24, 2025

Darren Cahill

Simone Vagnozzi

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: What have you been more proud of about Jannik these two weeks in Melbourne?

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: I think was not easy these two weeks for him. He had really tough day with Rune. Also today was really tough moment, tough match.

I think he handle it really, really good. He was fighting for every point, every game. This is why he's in the final again here.

DARREN CAHILL: Yeah, I think it's not easy to come back and defend a major for the first time in your career. He's had some stuff to deal with. We couldn't be prouder of the way that he's conducted himself, both on and off the court, the fight he's shown, the resilience.

I know she's just 23 years of age, but sometimes it feels like he's much older and wiser than what we are. He's an incredible young man.

It's no surprise to us to see him back in the final. I think that his level has been great for a long time now, but his level here in Australia is even better. He loves playing in Australia.

So he had his hands full tonight against an incredible young player that we are going to see a lot more of deep into the second weeks of majors or even semis and finals or even winning some of these as well.

Every time we see Ben, he continues to improve as a player. So we knew before this match he was going to have his hands full against Ben. No one was disappointed. I thought it was an incredible three sets.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You won with Andre here. Do you recognize anything from Andre to Sinner?

DARREN CAHILL: They play similar in ways, but in other ways completely different. No two players are the same. No two players see a tennis match the same way.

We spoke to Andre today by coincidence. He's a big fan of Jannik's, loves the ways he plays. Always hearing words from him about what he sees from Jannik's game and where the improvements are coming from and where he still feels there could be more improvement in Jannik's game.

We got into a deep conversation at lunchtime today. I left that conversation. We got to play the semis tonight, so we'll have this conversation later.

I think that Andre is an incredible champion of the game who won eight majors, every major and a gold medal. So Jannik is far from that. He's on the way, like a couple of other players as well.

There are similarities but they're also very different people.

Q. This match obviously really turned during six, seven minutes late in the first set. What do you see Jannik doing in those moments that you've been working on but that he just does so well when it's tight?

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: I think Jannik like this situation, like the pressure point, like to be in a storm, in a difficult moment. So in this moment he played the best tennis.

Sometimes if he go, I don't know, break up or something like this, sometimes he have bad game. Normally when the score is really difficult, he play the best game.

So he like to be there in this situation. And today probably in the first set he didn't play so good tactically, probably didn't play the best set in this tournament tactically, but with this resilience and with this want to fight, he was able to turn around this set and play the best tiebreak of the week probably.

DARREN CAHILL: Perfect.

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: My English was good?

DARREN CAHILL: Perfect. Better than his tactics in the first set (smiling).

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: For sure.

Q. We've seen Jannik laughing during the post-match interview. It's not something we're used to see with him. Did you feel that he grew more confident throughout the tournament, perhaps more relaxed?

DARREN CAHILL: He's matured, for sure. I think there's many areas of not just what he's doing on the court but certainly off the court, as well. All these young kids, they are living a life that is great, but you have to have a wise head on your shoulders dealing with the media and the fans and the pressure of playing in front of 15,000 people and living up to expectations. You grow up fast. Jannik is one of those.

So I think there's many areas where we talk to him about making sure that he still remains a 23-year-old. He's still a young man that needs to enjoy life, enjoy the people around him, have his friends, go out and have a good time.

We're all doing something here. It's a sport. It's what you grow up dreaming of doing, and you're having the time of your life doing it. Okay, you go through some tough moments. That's fine, but you wouldn't want to be any other place in the world if you're a tennis player.

It's an honor to walk on the court tonight in a semifinal. Two great players playing and entertaining the crowd. I think there's no other place they would rather be.

Q. Darren, you said right at the start that Jannik has had to deal with quite a lot of hard things as well. Seems bulletproof in court. Not many 23-year-olds also have to deal with a WADA issue in the background. From what you've seen, how has he coped with it? Must be affecting him.

DARREN CAHILL: Nobody's bulletproof. I think we all have moments when it gets to you a little bit, as well. I think to a large extent, he finds playing tennis matches to be his safe place. That's where he can go and do his thing and feel like this is what he knows, this is what he understands, what is what he's good at. It become a home for him to step on to the court and play tennis.

Yeah, there's been a lot of pressure around him for the last nine months now, since April last year. He deals with it as well as anybody that I've ever seen deal with pressure. He's an amazing young man that's been able to put that to one side.

Part of the reason - you had a great line at the US Open. What was the line? His conscience is clear, you said. I stole that from you. He has a clear conscience with what's going on. That's the main reason he's been able to go onto the court and walk tall and have that belief and play with the confidence that he has because he has a clear conscience.

What will be will be. We don't know what's going to happen, but he can always hold his head up high and be proud of what he's been able to achieve.

I know that the people back home in Italy can be damn proud of him, as well.

Q. He's achieved great things already in his career. One thing he hasn't done that much of is win really long matches. He has a record of 6-9 in five-set matches, which Zverev excels in. Do you have any concerns along those lines?

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: You go, Darren. In English is tough for me.

DARREN CAHILL: We had a good one year 12 months ago (smiling).

Alexander is older, right? He's a physical beast. He's put those years of work into his body. Yeah, he is a great athlete and has a great five-set record.

Jannik's is improving. He's getting better physically. He's somewhat of a late developer with the body that he had and has grown. He is about 6'4" now. I think even listed on the ATP website two years ago at 6'2".

He's going to get better as time goes along. He's in the final of another major. He's proven he's been able to win five-set matches in big matches at majors. We don't have any concern that he's going to be able to run out five sets if it needs to be five sets.

Best player will win. They're both physically prepared. They're both incredible athletes. It's the No. 1 and 2 in the world, so it's the perfect final as far as the rankings are concerned. A great challenge for both players.

As I said before, in today's match he has enormous respect. He knows how good Ben is going to be in the future. He's already a great player, but how much improvement can come from Ben.

Alexander has been around doing this for years. He's going to be a really tough opponent for Jannik. We can't wait to see how it goes. I think it's going to be a great match. Different challenges come from different opponents. Getting that Alexander Zverev's serve back is going to be a challenge in itself. We'll see how we go, but Jannik returned really well tonight.

Q. From last year's final, how different does it feel now, Jannik's game, and the main changes you've noticed as a player and a person?

DARREN CAHILL: Simone can talk about that because he's more in charge of Jannik's game than what I am.

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: For sure he's more confident about his game. All the victories, all the match he won last year, make a lot of confidence to him.

Tonight was not his best night of serve, but for sure he improve a lot the serve in the last year. I think tactically also he knows how to handle better only the court.

We will see tomorrow - Sunday, sorry. For sure will be a really, really tactical match because is not easy to make damage on the Zverev game. So will be probably a long rally. Also to manage, make shorter the rally when stay there more, I think it's really crucial on the game.

Q. Jannik mentioned you're retiring. What is your goal for your final season?

DARREN CAHILL: Jannik has already spoken about this. Honestly, I don't want to make this in any way about me. We're concentrating on Jannik making the final, playing Zverev. This is not about me. This is about Jannik, but he has spoken about it a couple of times actually.

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: He will enjoy the sea and everything Australia.

Q. Darren, Jannik is clearly in love with you and with Simone as well. He likes spending beautiful words for you guys.

DARREN CAHILL: He's in love with us?

Q. He actually is. Darren, what makes your relationship with Jannik so special from your point of view?

DARREN CAHILL: Honestly, I would like to think that we put the same care and attention to every player that we work with. That's our job as coaches. Simone has had some great success with other players as well. The same care and attention goes into every player.

Our connection with Jannik is great. It has to go three ways, right? Between me and Simone, and then with Jannik as well.

I think good communication is the most important thing. We have great trust in all of us, with the physio and Uli and Marco now as well coming into the team. We talk about every aspect of Jannik's game. Communication is really clear.

We all stay in our lanes as well. We all know our responsibilities. Whilst we talk about how we can help each other, we know what each person needs to do and we trust each person to do that.

Yeah, it's a team effort. A lot of my philosophies in coaching come from team sports. So we try to bring those team philosophies into our team. I know it's an individual sport, but the same core values that we have in team sports, which can only make teams successful, we bring into the Sinner team and make them work in the Sinner team.

He's a great young man. It starts with him. He's the player. He's the center of attention. He's the one that has to get out there and make it happen, swing the racquet, deal with the pressure, and be able to hit and play at the level he did tonight.

He is responsible for all the good stuff that is happening. We just try to pick him up when he needs to be picked up, push him back in line when he gets offline a little bit, and just try to show him as much as possible that we care about him as a tennis player, but certainly more as a person, as well.

I think it works pretty well.