Currently the coach of Jannik Sinner, Darren Cahill has worked with some of the very best players in tennis over the years.
The Australian worked with his countryman Lleyton Hewitt during the early 2000s, guiding him to the world number one ranking and the 2001 US Open title.
Cahill then joined Andre Agassi’s team, helping him win his eighth and final Grand Slam title at the 2003 Australian Open.
A successful stint alongside Simona Halep followed in the late 2010s, before he became Sinner’s coach in 2022.
Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
He also helped out several other players, as a member of the Adidas Player Development Program, including three-time major champion Andy Murray.
Despite enjoying their time together, Cahill never joined Murray’s team on a full-time basis.
Murray’s mother, Judy Murray, has now explained why.
Appearing as a guest on ‘The Sit Down‘ podcast, Murray recalled the reason why Cahill didn’t join the Brit’s team in 2014.
“When Andy Murray was looking for someone new to guide him on the coaching side. He took advice from Darren Cahill, and it was Darren Cahill who had suggested Ivan [Lendl] to Andy some years before, and that had turned out to be a relationship that bore a lot of fruit for Andy,” she said.
“Darren was an advisory coach on the Adidas programme when Andy was an Adidas athlete, so he had access to Darren for quite a number of months, not full-time, but quite a lot, and he really enjoyed working with him.
Photo by Andy Cheung/Getty Images
“But Darren wasn’t available to do that because he was doing a lot of commentary work at that time.”
Unable to coach Murray himself, Cahill advised him on who he should hire instead.
“He suggested Amelie [Mauresmo],” said Murray.
“So Andy went and met Amelie for lunch and really enjoyed her company, I don’t think they were talking about tennis all the time, I think they talked about all sorts of other things, but what I remember him saying to me was, how much he enjoyed the fact that she listened to him, she asked him questions and she listened to him.
“I think he had probably had a number of coaches that didn’t listen, who tell, tell, tell, and he was really at a stage where he wanted to have more of a say in the direction of what he was doing with his game. He really enjoyed that.
“It’s one of the things you tend to find with female coaches, you don’t find egos, you do find listening, nurturing, caring, softer skills perhaps.”
Choosing to hire Mauresmo as his coach, Murray quickly realised the magnitude of the decision he had just made.
Photo credit should read WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images
“They decided to give it a try, and of course, for him, it had nothing to do with gender; it was to do with her skillset. She’d been a Grand Slam champion and a number one, had a wonderful variety and feel in her game. They decided to do it, and she brought a different perspective. They became great friends,” said Murray.
“He [Murray] was quite shocked by the reaction of some of his fellow pros and some sections of the media.
“He realised very quickly that if he wasn’t as successful or more successful with Amelie, then she was going to come in for a really tough time.
“I think that opened his eyes again for how tough it is for women to work at the top of the game.”
With the pressure on, how did Murray perform with Mauresmo as his coach?
Andy Murray’s record with Amelie Mauresmo as coach
Working together between 2014 and 2016, Murray and Mauresmo won seven titles.
Titles Andy Murray won with Amelie Mauresmo as his coach
Murray was, however, unable to add to his Grand Slam tally during this period, losing two major finals.
- 2015 Australian Open F – Lost to Novak Djokovic
- 2016 Australian Open F – Lost to Novak Djokovic
After they split in 2016, the Brit then began working with Sweden’s Jonas Björkman, while Mauresmo took a break from coaching before joining her countryman Lucas Pouille in 2019.
Upon retirement, Murray took his first step into coaching, teaming up with the 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, although their partnership was short-lived.
Mauresmo now works as a tournament director for the French Open and seems to be done with coaching, at least for now…