Nick Kyrgios railed this Saturday against what he considers to be the lenient treatment reserved for world number one Tennis player, Italian Jannik Sinner, over a failed doping test, and said integrity in sport was ” terrible”.
Sinner tested positive twice for the banned substance clostebol in March. However, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted his claim that the steroid had entered his system as a result of contamination by the physiotherapist and decided not to suspend him.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) then appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, whose verdict is awaited. Kyrgios has criticized the ITIA decision in the past and did not hold back during a press conference before his return to the courts at the Brisbane Internationals after 18 months of unavailability due to injury. “The integrity of tennis at the moment, everyone knows it, but no one wants to talk about it – it’s terrible”said the Australian.
“It’s really terrible and it’s not good. I know people don’t like it when I talk about certain things, when I’m honest. I can be emotional, I can throw a racket, but that’s nothing compared to cheating and taking performance-enhancing drugs.”
Asked whether he was accusing Sinner cheating, Kyrgios asked reporters to look at the facts. “He also failed two doping tests at different times”said Kyrgios. “If he didn’t do anything wrong, why did they take away his prize and points? It’s obvious they found something to complain about.”
With the suspension of the former women’s world number one Iga Swiatek for violation of anti-doping rules in 2024, Kyrgios said the sport’s image had been tarnished. “I think our sport has been treated horribly”he declared. The ITIA acknowledged that Swiatek’s violation was unintentional and that she only received a one-month sanction.
“Two world number ones convicted of doping, it’s disgusting for our sport. It’s a horrible image”said Kyrgioswho has not played since injuring his knee and wrist during theUS Open 2022.
Swiss
