Legendary tennis coaches: Darren Cahill - from Hewitt to Agassi to Halep
Darren Cahill is considered one of the most respected experts and sought-after coaches of the current time. It all started with a rather unusual training match in his garden.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
Mar 19, 2023, 08:30 am
Because one day a certain Lleyton Hewitt came to Cahill's door. Cahill had recently ended his own career due to ongoing knee problems, taking him to 22nd place in the ATP ranking.
Hewitt, then 12 years old, didn't think much of small talk. "Hi, I'm Lleyton. Shall we play?" Cahill still remembers those steely, fully focused eyes. He was amused, fascinated and intimidated at the same time, Cahill said . He didn't have any major worries, as a quasi-recently active professional, the first two training sets also went smoothly. But then Hewitt met, lured him forward, overlobbed again and again. His later legendary "C'monnnn" was heard five streets away. Cahill knew: Hewitt is special - which he should prove with two Grand Slam titles and number 1.
No to Safin, yes to Agassi
While Hewitt was at the beginning of his career, Cahill was later hired by a veteran star - Andre Agassi. After his separation from Brad Gilbert, he rang the Australian. No, it's not possible, explained Cahill - he's about to be engaged by the up-and-coming Marat Safin. Agassi understood. Short. 30 minutes later it rang again. He couldn't go to Safin, he was unpredictable, Agassi mediated. "And you certainly don't want your wife near him." Cahill's wife had previously shown herself to be extremely impressed by a Safin commitment.
And continued to work on her husband, as he told years ago on the Racquet magazine podcast . "We don't do that! We have a 22-year-old, 1.95-metre-tall hot, sexy Russian with Marat Safin. And - how old is Andre? 48, 49? He's old, has no hair and waddles around like a duck." But Cahill accepted Agassi straight away. With success: Agassi turned things up a notch at the end of his career.
Cahill leads Simona Halep to French Open victory
Most recently, Cahill made headlines with his liaison with Simona Halep. He had an up and down relationship with the Romanian on the court, above all trying to give her, who was often too self-critical and pessimistic ex-number 1, a little more optimism. Which didn't always work. Legendary: on-court coaching in Miami when Halep was about to give away a match again. Which she ended up doing. Cahill's reaction: He broke up with her. Halep's reaction: She showed her now ex-coach that she could very well fight. The two finally found each other again, Halep celebrated her long-awaited major victory at the French Open of the same year with Cahill.
And last? Is Cahill traveling as a consultant - for Amanda Anisimova and also for Jannik Sinner. In addition to his expert work for ESPN, he likes to be at the side of his good buddy and fellow coach Brad Gilbert.