Jannik Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill recently opened up about why he imposed time violations on the Italian during their training sessions while he was serving a suspension. The World No. 1 faced a three-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance clostebol twice in March 2024.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) conducted an investigation on Sinner following the positive tests and ultimately determined that he was not at fault for the anti-doping rule violations. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) contested this decision, seeking a suspension of up to two years.
After learning and reviewing Sinner’s case of transdermal contamination, WADA agreed to a three-month suspension, which concluded on May 4, 2025.
Jannik Sinner’s Coach, Darren Cahill, Gave Him Time Violations During Practice
Upon completing his suspension, Jannik Sinner returned to the court at the ongoing Italian Open. He is the top seed in the Masters 1000 tournament, and he began his campaign in the second round after receiving a first-round bye and has since reached the final.
In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Sinner’s coach, Cahill, discussed the “biggest challenges” they faced during the suspension. He mentioned that they faced difficulty in replicating the high-pressure conditions of a professional match during training.
“One of the biggest challenges that we’ve had during the last four months, and especially the last two months when we started to get a little bit closer, was trying to replicate what he goes through in match conditions,” Cahill said.
Cahill stated that while Jannik Sinner demonstrated impressive ball striking and practice, he struggled with concentrating without the intensity of competition.
“We found that during this period, the concentration lapses, like he lost his rhythm of playing matches, and lost his concentration and practice, and he is always hitting the ball well, always practicing well, but when we play points, he’d go in and out of those concentration periods way too much,” he continued.
To address this, Cahill revealed that he took an innovative approach: he would sit in the umpire’s chair, set a timer, and force him to follow it. If Sinner failed to comply, Cahill would issue code violations. He said that this rigorous practice helped the World No. 1 regain his competitive rhythm, which contributed to his successful return at the Italian Open.
“So I even jumped in the umpires chair, I had the clock on him in between 25 seconds, in between points, gave him a couple of code violations, got a little abuse back, but trying to get him into the rhythm of playing points and playing matches to make sure that when he got hit in Rome, he hit the ground running. And maybe it worked a little bit, but he did struggle in the first couple of matches to find his timing and his rhythm, but after that, he found it pretty quickly again,” Darren Cahill added.
Jannik Sinner Has Reached the Final of the Italian Open 2025
After serving his suspension, Jannik Sinner made his return to the court at the 2025 Italian Open and advanced to the final. He defeated Mariano Navone, lucky loser Jesper de Jong, 17th seed Mariano Navone, sixth seed Casper Ruud, and 11th seed Tommy Paul to secure his place in the championship match, where he is set to take on third seed Carlos Alcaraz.
Meanwhile, Alcaraz advanced to the final by overcoming qualifiers Dušan Lajović, Laslo Djere, 23rd seed Karen Khachanov, fifth seed Jack Draper, and eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti.
Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz have faced each other 10 times on the ATP Tour, with the Spaniard winning six of those matches. Their most recent encounter was in the final of the 2024 China Open, which Alcaraz won to claim the 16th ATP Tour title of his career.
