Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has doubled down on his public scorning of players caught with performance-enhancing drugs in their system, regardless of the explanation for it.
This year alone, the No.1 ranked player in the world in both men’s and women’s tennis have had banned substances found in their system.
In October, Jannik Sinner was cleared of any wrongdoing despite testing positive for clostebol, an anabolic steroid that can be used to build muscle mass and enhance athletic performance.
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Last month, Iga Swiatek (who recently fell to No.2 in the world rankings) was handed just a one-month ban after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine, a heart medication known as TMZ.
Kyrgios was very vocal when the news of Sinner’s failed test became public, crying out for a ban, regardless of the Italian’s explanation.
Sinner was given a provisional ban after each of his failed tests, but later had them lifted when his team successfully argued that he had been inadvertently contaminated with clostebol by his physiotherapist, who had applied Trofodermin to a cut on his own hand, the same hand that was then used for treatment on Sinner.
“The excuse that we can all use is that we didn’t know. Simply didn’t know. Professionals at the highest level of sport can now just say ‘we didn’t know’,” Kyrgios said with a thick undertone of sarcasm.
In response to Swiatek’s ban specifically, Kyrgios wrote in November: “OUR SPORT IS COOKED”.
Speaking on tennis podcast Nothing Major, Kyrgios explained his frustrations with the issue.
“Let’s be honest, I really want to go out there and I really want to play Sinner,” he said.
“If I played him in the Australian Open, I’d get every person in the crowd to get on him. I would turn it into an absolute riot.
“All respect would go out the window and I would just do anything to win.
“I haven’t failed any drug tests. It’s nothing personal. What would I have personal against Iga Swiatek? I’ve got nothing personal on Iga.”
The podcast is hosted by former American tennis stars Sam Querrey, John Isner, Steve Johnson, and Jack Sock, who all had esteemed careers, but won zero major titles between them.
Kyrgios — who himself is yet to break through for a grand slam victory — tried to explain there was already a big enough gap between the sport’s best, and the rest, without drugs making the gap wider, irrespective of how marginally.
“It should be a level playing field for everyone. That’s what p***** me off. Because I know when I watch Roger (Federer) and (Novak) Djokovic, they’re gods in my eyes,” Kyrgios said.
“When you have one of us five versus one of them, I feel like there’s a lot of fans that want us to do well because we are relatable. You see us at a bar having a drink, we’re human. These guys already have an advantage because they’re just gods.
“Then if they’re taking all these other performance enhancing drugs, it just makes me angry. Because I know me personally, I’ve never done it. I won’t ever do it.
“I drink alcohol and I may not get a good night’s sleep. I’m already putting myself against the back of the wall.
“Then I gotta go out there and this guy is rubbing cream all over his body that gives him some crazy aura, then it’s not fair. That’s why I’m angry about it.”
The Aussie star, who is returning to the court this summer after effectively two years on the sidelines, said he has no sympathy for athletes of play the victim after testing positive.
“Once you get caught you can’t act like the victim,” he went on.
“That’s what pisses me off even more about it. I’m like, hold on a second — you employ your team, don’t you?’
“Say we go out and have a party — how in our sport can someone get punished two years for having a night out versus someone who’s actually trying to enhance their performance?
“It’s not even a conversation of which one is worse in my opinion. Obviously they’re both bad.”
Kyrgios will make his long-awaited return at the Brisbane International later this month as he prepares for his first grand slam since the 2022 US Open.
