Carlos Moya to coach Jannik Sinner? Former French Open winner responds to rumours

Jannik Sinner made a promising return to tour by reaching the Italian Open final.

On Tuesday, rumours spread that Former World No #1 and 1998 Roland Garros champion Carlos Moya has agreed to coach Jannik Sinner from the 2026 season. Moya, who has previously worked with tennis great Rafael Nadal, refuted the news when speaking to Radio Nacional de España. 

Earlier, reports emerged that Moya was to take over as the Italian’s coach and step in as a replacement for current coach Darren Cahill, who is scheduled to depart at the end of the ongoing season. Under Cahill’s tutelage since 2022, Sinner has won two Grand Slams and four ATP 1000s, besides ascending to the ATP No #1 ranking.

Carlos Moya, a 20-time ATP Tour winner, aided Nadal’s resurgence when he came on board in 2016. Moya coached the 22-time Grand Slam Champion and fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal until the latter’s retirement in 2024. Moya signed up with Nadal when he was in the midst of a career slump, having won just one significant title – the ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo in the preceding two years.

As a team, they won 21 titles—including the final eight of Nadal’s 22 Grand Slams and eight Masters 1000 trophies.

Also Read: Jannik Sinner vs Carlos Alcaraz: Who has won most big titles?

Meanwhile, Sinner became the first Italian finalist at the recently concluded ATP 1000 Rome Masters since 1978. The last Italian to make the finals was Adriano Panatta, where he lost to legendary Swede Bjorn Borg in five sets. 

The World No #1 will focus on the upcoming French Open, which is less than a week away. He was denied the Rome singles title by Carlos Alcaraz and has lost to the Spaniard in his four previous matches. The 6-7(5), 1-6 loss to Alcaraz in Rome was Sinner’s first straight-set loss since 2023. 

In 2024, Sinner hired Marco Panichi and Ulises Badio, Novak Djokovic’s former trainer and physiotherapist, respectively. Alcaraz uses the service of another former Spanish tennis player, Juan Carlos Ferrero, as a coach.

With Ferrero in his corner, Alcaraz has won three majors and became the youngest player to rise to No #1 in the ATP Rankings when he won the 2022 US Open.

For Moya, taking over as Sinner’s coach from the 2026 season looked a perfect timing to help the Italian achieve the next peak of his career. But the news seems to have come too soon as the 1998 Australian Open runner-up has flushed all speculations and set the record straight in a conversation with Radio Nacional de España.

“Fake news as big as a house” (translated from Spanish) said Moya when asked the question.

The three-time ATP Masters 1000 champion has previously said that he is not in a hurry to take up another coaching role following a lengthy spell on tour with Nadal.

“Maybe in a few months or a few years I’ll change my mind, but right now, I’m enjoying this moment,” the former world No 1 stated. “After so much time travelling and competing, a detox period was a good idea. I’m not bored at all.”

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