NITTO ATP FINALS

November 16, 2025

Simone Vignozzi

Darren Cahill

Inalpi Arena,Torino

Press Conference

An interview with:

DARREN CAHILL

SIMONE VAGNOZZI

THE MODERATOR: We'll do questions with Darren and Simone.

Q. What were you going through during that match, your emotions and nerves?

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: Was really emotional match. Really tight match. I think both of them, they have period when they play really good, and sometimes they make some mistake.

We saw Jannik always fighting with a good attitude, with a good face. He always believed, also in the second set when he was break down, couldn't change the direction of the set.

We are really happy about Jannik performance. I think there is still something to work also after this win, the match showing something that we can try to make it better.

But really happy how we finished the season with unbelievable three tournaments in a row. We are pumped for start next season.

DARREN CAHILL: Well said (smiling).

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: I have good coaching English (smiling).

Q. Feels like the two big changes post US Open final, his serve, the type of variety he's tried to employ, can you talk about both of those areas of his game and how they've come on since New York?

DARREN CAHILL: He was responsible for that. I'll let Simone answer that.

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: For sure after US Open we saw some issue, especially with the serve. We changed the motion. We changed the rhythm. He served really well from Shanghai till here. Today in the second set he struggle a little bit.

I think Carlos change his position on the second serve, changed something on the serve of Jannik also. The second set start to serve too slow. This also change the rhythm on the first set.

Like I said on the serve, we change a lot of things after US Open. We are lucky to have Jannik that is really fast to improve, to understand the changes and everything.

Also we try to make a new shots, new tactics also. I will not tell you what we try to do (smiling). For sure our goal also in the next season is to be more aggressive than what we are now.

It's okay, Darren?

DARREN CAHILL: Perfect again (smiling).

Q. I suggested to Felix the other day that Jannik has the best combo serve and return, first shot, we've seen. Not the best server or returner ever, but he has the ability to put huge pressure on every opponent as early as the first shot. Something all of them say. Can you confirm that it's something you worked on? Do you agree on what Felix said? Do you agree it was with the fact it was key here?

DARREN CAHILL: The first shot in the rally is the most important. You're 100% right. You have control over one shot in tennis, and that is the serve. Jannik and Simone have done some incredible work over the last four or five weeks to rejig the serve and find that rhythm and tempo where he has been able to up the first-serve percentage.

It is not just that about the first-serve percentage. If we were really concerned about the first-serve percentage, we would let him slow the serve down to let him get more first serves in. He's actually pumped up the miles per hour and he is getting the ball closer to the line, which means he gets a lot more free points. They've done a wonderful job with that.

The return of serve, you're are relying a little bit on your opponent and how well they are serving. I think that's what makes both Carlos and Jannik difficult to play, is there's no time to breathe when you play against them.

You can struggle in a five-minute service game because they get a lot of returns back into play, then they come around and go bang bang bang bang, a little bit like Federer did in the day, where he served in 40 seconds, put that pressure straight back on you.

We tried to learn from the best, Rafa, Novak and Roger, and try to implement as much as we can from those guys to give our guy and put as much pressure on our opponents as possible.

It's that built-up pressure that helps these guys when the score gets tight. So you're right, the first serve, first shot, and the return of serve are really important.

We still feel like, as good as Jannik returns serve, he's got areas in that part of the game where he can improve. That's the really interesting thing and exciting thing in working with somebody as good as Jannik, is there are parts of his game we still feel can get a lot better.

I think it's a little bit what I spoke about here a week ago, that we want him to be playing his best tennis when he's 28, 29, 30 years of age. Hopefully we're setting the plan and platform for him to be able to do that in a few years.

These wins are great. To do it here in Italy, in Turin, in front of the Italian fans, to have such a special atmosphere tonight, it was a great team win. We really felt the excitement of this victory tonight.

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: I can listen to you all night (smiling).

He had some good player with good return.

DARREN CAHILL: Yeah, Agassi.

The return of serve is incredibly important. I think if you don't get the ball back in play, you're not going to break serve too often. I think the fact that Jannik, even though he was down a break of serve in that second set, he was consistently putting pressure on Carlos' service games. Finally we got a couple of errors out of him.

I thought the level of match was really high. Both players played really well. Carlos has been incredible in 2025 and certainly the years before.

I sent him a congratulations note a couple nights ago when he secured No. 1. He's an incredible young man.

He actually gave us a couple smiles during the match. Jannik hit a backhand down the line at one point. He looked over to us with a big smile. It is a pretty rare athlete and competitor that does that. We have nothing but admiration for Carlos.

Q. We are all waiting to find out if you're going to be with Sinner next year officially. I don't know when you will tell us.

DARREN CAHILL: We haven't spoken yet, so...

Q. Jannik lost six matches last year and six matches this year. They all say almost all surfaces are more similar than we were many years ago. What do you think has to be done to prepare Sinner to do on other surfaces what he's able to do on indoor court? How difficult it is this goal? He won 31 matches in a row indoors.

DARREN CAHILL: I think there is some big variation in the surfaces. They're not all medium-paced surfaces. This one I think really played medium fast.

SIMONE VAGNOZZI: The end of the tournament was fast.

DARREN CAHILL: It was fast. It was a pretty quick surface.

The differences between Indian Wells and, say, Cincinnati is enormous. Indian Wells is a pretty slow surface. Cincinnati is one of the fastest hard courts they play on.

I think the variation in the courts is okay. They can probably quicken up the balls a little bit. We've spoken about this before. To get a regular tennis ball, especially when you have the clay court season and then the U.S. hard court season, they do it in Australia where all the tournaments use the same ball. To get a regular ball the players can get used to, one that travels a little bit faster, might make it a little bit quicker tennis.

These guys played on a fast surface here tonight. I thought some of the rallies were incredible. It's kind of what do you want to see? Do you want to see guys with big serves just winning points and games really quickly? Do you want to see the type of exciting tennis that we saw here tonight?

The surfaces I think are fine. Grass is a little bit slower than it used to be 20 years ago. But I think the tennis is just as exciting now as what it used to be. I wouldn't worry too much about that.

As far as Jannik's game is concerned, I think his game transitions well to all surfaces, whether it's slow, fast or medium. Obviously clay is going to be a big target for us next year, to try to keep improving his clay court game. We'll keep working on that.

But he's excited about playing on all surfaces, not just indoors.

Q. Darren, have you done some bets or promises with Jannik this time before the Final as in Wimbledon?

DARREN CAHILL: No bet this time. We played it very safe (smiling).