Cahill can be legend on his CV

DARREN Cahill will join a select band of grand slam coaches to guide multiple players to major triumph if Simona Halep wins the Australian Open.

Since 1968, only a handful of mentors have helped two or more players to grand slam singles titles.

Cahill is now poised to match the exploits of Tony Roche, who helped Ivan Lendl, Pat Rafter and Roger Federer achieve the ultimate.

Cahill already has the honour of supporting Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi to major successes.

And he also holds the rare distinction of guiding three different players to the world No 1 ranking — Hewitt, Agassi and Halep.

Halep credits South Australian Cahill with improving her mindset. “Yeah, it’s (Cahill’s influence) helping me a lot this way to think and to be on court,” the dual French Open runner-up said.

“It’s not easy, because I was a little bit too negative before, so I’m trying to change that.

“I changed already, but I need to work on it more. I want to improve more, and for sure, if I will be focused on this thing, I will be much better in the future.”

A former US Open semi-finalist, Cahill’s playing career was cut short by chronic knee problems.

Since switching to a dual role of coaching and television commentary, Cahill has built a formidable reputation in both spheres for professionalism and insight.

In 2001, he piloted Hewitt into history as the youngest season-ending world No. 1 in 2001 — the same year Hewitt destroyed Pete Sampras in the US Open final.