"Whatever happens, hold your head up high" - Jannik Sinner's coach Darren Cahill on how he battled "lots of stress" after doping row to win US Open

Jannik Sinner's coach Darren Cahill recently opened up about getting through the doping row and his role in the Italian's team. Sinner found himself in a fix after testing positive for Clostebol, a banned substance, twice during the 2024 Indian Wells Open.

Sinner, however, succeeded in proving his innocence on the ground that he was accidentally exposed to the substance by his ex-physio Giacomo Naldi. He received a clean chit from the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after a four-month investigation.

Cahill, who has been a constant in Sinner's team since July 2022, shared how he tried to steer the ship during the challenging period and accompanied him to glory at the 2024 US Open. He said, via ESPN:

"I'm not the main coach in this team, Simone [Vagnozzi] is the main coach but I'm the most experienced. So the last three or four weeks or the last four months, really a lot of what's been going on within the team has laid on my shoulders to keep a sense of things, to keep his focus on what we're trying to achieve, to make sure I continually tell him he's done nothing wrong."

"So, whatever happens, hold your head up high because you've done absolutely nothing wrong. Just go about our tennis in a professional way and see what we can do in this period and once we get through it, then we'll be able to go from there. And we got through it, it wasn't without stress, lot of stress," he added.

The former World No. 22 noted that he believed his role as a coach extends beyond tennis.

"That's what I think real coaching is about is because you care and unless your player knows that you’re invested and really care about not just the performance but you as a person. I speak about Jannik’s tennis quite a lot but I speak about him more as a person more than anything," the Aussie added.

"It's my job to kind of help Jannik Sinner become someone the young kids can look up to" - Darren Cahill

Jannik Sinner (Getty)

In the same conversation, Darren Cahill further reflected on his responsibility for Jannik Sinner's growth as a player and an individual.

"It's my job to kind of help him [Jannik Sinner] mature and become the person that everybody wants to see and that someone the young kids can look up to, the next generations, someone everybody admires," Cahill said.

The Aussie then revealed giving Sinner a pep talk on his character before the US Open final against Taylor Fritz.

"Even before the match I spoke to him about the fact that he’s handled himself in a way in the last three or four weeks that he's shown honesty, he's had resilience and he’s got everything to be proud of so go out there and enjoy today because you absolutely belong to be there," Cahill added.

Sinner defeated Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 in the final on Sunday, 8 September in Flushing Meadows to claim the men's singles title.