Jannik Sinner's coach explains Italian's controversial 'I don't play for money' comment after $6,000,000 bounty from Six Kings Slam
Jannik Sinner's coach Darren Cahill has cleared the air aroi=und the Italian's controversial comments on the Six Kings Slam recently. In Cahill's opinion, Sinner was right to say what he did, but felt his comments got misinterpreted by fans.
Sinner was part of a team of six playing in Saudi Arabia last month, including the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz. Walking away as the winner of the exhibition, the World No. 1 bagged a whopping $6 million in prize money, while the others earned $1.5 million each.
Speaking about the event afterward, Sinner stated in an interview that he was not playing for the money and that he went to Saudi Arabia only to test his mettle against five of the best players in the world at the moment.
"No, I don't play for money, it's very simple. Of course, it's a nice prize and everything but for me, I went there because there were possibly the six best players in the world, and then you can measure yourself with them. It was also a nice event for me, it was the first time I went to Riyadh and it was nice," Jannik Sinner said.
As expected, tennis fans were appalled by the comment and called out the 22-year-old for his comments. Now, speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport in an exclusive interview, Cahill defended his ward, stating that the only mistake Sinner made in his comments was not explaining his thoughts clearly.
The Aussie went on to clarify that Sinner consulted with his team before signing on to the exhibition and that he went only because he wanted to improve his tennis, with the money just being a welcome bonus.
"What he said about not going to Riyadh for the money was misinterpreted. Or maybe he didn't explain himself well. The truth is that he had never played an exhibition, he has always been focused on improving his tennis," Darren Cahill said.
"He knows what his priorities are. Then he got an offer for the Six Kings Slam, with the six best players in the world and a lot of money. He consulted us and we said why not, and he accepted," he added.
Darren Cahill reveals what he believes to be Jannik Sinner's biggest strength
Continuing in the aforementioned interview, Darren Cahill shared his thoughts on what he thought to be Jannik Sinner's biggest strength, claiming that the Italian could learn quickly and make changes to his game.
Cahill felt confident enough to call it one of Sinner's superpowers, emphasizing how the World No. 1 has quickly added 5-6 different styles to his game in a fairly short time.
"The ability to process information and transform it into actions. The ability to learn quickly. There are players who are afraid to make changes in their tennis because they are afraid of taking steps backwards. Jannik is the opposite. He is not afraid to lose a couple of matches if it means implementing improvements in his game," Cahill said.
"His superpower is not being afraid to improve. Today, he knows how to play in 5-6 different ways, closing the point with the serve, at the net, on the line or behind, drop shot, slice… not only does he hit hard, but he does it intelligently," he added.
Sinner, having secured the year-end World No. 1 spot, will next be in action at the ATP Finals in Turin, where he will be joined by the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev.