The sage advice Andre Agassi's coach gave to Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner is hoping to live out the advice of his coach Darren Cahill who has engineered success for other players at the All England Club.

Cahill helped Andre Agassi become the oldest player ever to be ranked world No 1 in May 2003 and has since enjoyed two stints as coach of Simona Halep.

Cahill’s advice to Sinner was to be ‘friendly with the grass’ which is how he describes the way he has adjusted his game for the surface.

Sinner said that there is a certain nuance to grass that makes it a difficult surface to come to grips with for some.

“Yeah, for sure it’s the movement, which is a very important part of the grass court tennis now. Obviously you have to serve in the right way because the serve is very important. Sometimes to mix up the game a little bit, for sure.

“But in the other way, it’s very important also that you have to be very friendly with the grass, let’s say. Yeah, so I think it’s a combination of couple of things.”

Asked to expand on what he meant by friendly with grass he revealed it was something that Cahill had passed on to him.

“This is a quote what Darren gave me, Cahill, because you going to have chances, but sometimes there are some bad bounces, can be, or you got unlucky a couple of times because your opponent is serving good.

“You have to always have the right mindset, which is very important. Also sometimes trying to smile because you also have to be very enjoyable to play here.

“Yeah, as I said before, the combination of everything is the right thing.”

He faces a Wimbledon last eight match where he is the clear favourite going up against Russian Roman Safiullin, who will rise to a new career-high ranking thanks to a best Grand Slam run for the 25-year-old.

Sinner stressed that he will need to be well prepared for the Russian.

“Obviously Roman, it reminds me a little bit of the story of Karatsev in Australia, no?” Sinner refelected.

“Coming here without losing, playing quite freely. He plays some very, very good tennis.

“I played against him one year ago in ATP Cup. It was a very tough match. I’m going to be quite prepared for this one. Obviously it’s also mental because it’s maybe a little bit different.

“But happy to be in the position where I am, obviously. Yeah, hopefully I can show some good tennis. For sure I have to raise my level also from the baseline a little bit, and let’s see how it goes.”

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