Nick Kyrgios has launched a savage attack on tennis stars Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek for breaches of the sport’s anti-doping program, labelling their conduct as “disgusting for our sport”.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) levelled charges against world No.1 Sinner and former world No.1 Iga Swiatek for breaches.
Sinner tested positive twice for an anabolic steroid in March, but avoided a ban because the ITIA determined he was not to blame.
Swiatek also managed to accept a one-month suspension in November for testing positive to the banned substance trimetazidine.
“Two world No.1s both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport. It’s a horrible look,” Kyrgios said at his Brisbane International press conference.
“Tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it, but no one wants to speak about it, it’s awful.”
Kyrgios, 29, has not played tournament tennis since June 2023 due to wrist and knee injuries. He was asked about his motivations for speaking out on the Sinner and Swiatek situations.
“Someone like me … I would never even in my entire life ever try and dope in this sport,” he said.
“Especially going through an injury like I went through, obviously there are things out there that could speed up healing, help me get back to prime level, help my recovery.
“There’s so many things out there that are prohibited in our sport that I could have been doing to get me back quicker … (but) that’s just not who I am. I’m always against that.
“So for me when people are saying that I’m disrespectful to the sport, I think someone like that that has tried to cheat the process, and actually not done it completely on their own merit, is the disrespectful one in my opinion.
“I have to be outspoken about it because I don’t think there’s enough people that are speaking about it. I think people are trying to sweep it under the rug.”
Sinner had successfully argued that his physiotherapist had accidentally contaminated him during treatment with clostebol which had transferred from a cut on his own hand.
Kyrgios raised questions over what happened next.
“I (pay) my team hundreds and thousands of dollars to be the professionals they are, to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Kyrgios said.
“So they knew it happened. Why did they wait five to six months to do anything about it? He kept his team for five months … that doesn’t make sense.
“I’d be livid. If my physiotherapist contaminated me, put me in this position, I would probably never talk to the guy again. He had the guy on his team for five months, acting like nothing happened.”
Kyrgios has been criticised for his outspoken ways but said he would not change on issues he held dear.
“For a kid that grew up playing tennis, I enjoyed the competition, I enjoyed playing,” he said.
“I can get emotional, I can throw a racquet, but that’s nothing compared to cheating and taking performance-enhancing drugs. That’s ridiculous in my opinion. I’m not going to shut up about it anyway.”
Source: espn.com