Brad Gilbert has provided some insight into how Jannik Sinner’s coach, Darren Cahill, has been somewhat kept in the dark about the Italian’s knee injury.

Sinner hasn’t played a single match on tour since winning the Wimbledon title back in July. Back then, there wasn’t a sniff that the 25-year-old would miss the rest of 2026, but that is what has come to pass.

Amidst the Shanghai Open, Andre Agassi’s former coach, Gilbert, was asked if he had been in contact with his good friend Cahill and if the Australian was clued in on the Italian’s knee problems.

The American revealed that Cahill was allegedly told quite late that the world No 1 wasn’t going to play at the Cincinnati Masters in August. Gilbert then speculated that there may be “too many cooks” in the Sinner kitchen when it comes to finding the right knee treatment.

And, with the five-time major winner likely to be out until next year’s Australian Open, Coco Gauff’s former coach thinks that surgery has to become an option if the 6ft 3in player is still in difficulty.

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He said on the Big T podcast, “I’ve been speaking to Darren a lot, and it started with he was on his way to the airport from Los Angeles, going to Cincinnati, when he got the call that they’re not going. And basically he’s been on hold since then. And I think it’s like one of these very frustrating things.

“It’s like he listens to the doctors. He takes a few days off, goes back, and hits; some days he’s fine. And then he gets that pain in the kneecap.
Now you hope it’s not too many cooks in the kitchen, like he has three different doctors. I think he went to France. He’s going to Italy.

“And I think it’s probably one of those tough decisions where now he’s going to shut down the rest of the season and rely on rest and strengthening. So no surgery. So can you imagine if we fast forward to December and early January, when he really ramps up to get ready for Australia, and this pain hasn’t gone away?

“And then all of a sudden, it could linger. Because normally with this long, you want to think, is surgery an option? Usually it’s the last option. But now surgery is not like it was 30 years ago, if it’s a scope. But highly unusual.”

Gilbert added that he could not remember a time when tennis’ top two players were out for such a long time together. Carlos Alcaraz was sidelined for nearly five months with a wrist injury, and Sinner’s next match could be six months after his Wimbledon triumph.

While tennis appears to be getting more and more physical, Gilbert paid tribute to Roger Federer for playing in 65 successive Grand Slams between 2000 and 2016. The Swiss was able to stay fit, manage his body, and never retire during a match. That seems a far cry from the present day.

Gilbert finished by saying, “Honestly, I don’t ever remember a year where the top two guys started and have been so dominant the last two and a half years and missed so much time during the year.

“Staying healthy is a unique challenge. It kind of makes you think about how many consecutive majors Federer played it? Wow.”