After hearing Darren Cahill talk at a Coach Education workshop with Tennis Australia, we knew that we wanted to have him on The Coaching Podcast. I have always admired his work ethic and his TV commentary/match analysis are always spot on. As he is around the top 10 male and female tennis player frequently, we can all learn from what qualities they share in common: 1) Work Ethic 2) Purpose 3) Belief 4) Resilience 5) Team Darren Cahill is one of the great icons in the world of international tennis. Born in Adelaide, Australia as the son of a famous Australian football player and coach John Cahill, Darren started playing professional tennis in 1984, at the age of nineteen. Cahill’s first success as a professional was in 1985, winning his first tour doubles title at Melbourne, and later in 1988 in Gstaad, he won his first top-level singles title. The same year Cahill eliminated Boris Becker at the US Open and reached the semi-finals. Cahill’s performance at this Grand Slam event is widely considered his best ever.
A year later, in 1989 at the Australian Open, Cahill continued a streak of successes. Playing with Mark Kratzmann, Cahill finished runner-up in the men’s doubles. Playing for the Australian team at the Davis Cup in 1990, Cahill achieved a career 6–4 Davis Cup record with 4–0 in doubles and 2–4 in singles. Cahill was ranked as World number 22 in singles and world number 10 in doubles. He was the winner of two ATP singles titles and thirteen doubles titles. Cahill’s list of victories contains wins over such distinguished names as John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Goran Ivanisevic and Mats Wilander. Cahill’s highly-successful career as a tennis player earned him the Australian male Tennis Player of the Year 1988 Award.