'Maybe Not So Innocent': Kyrgios Takes Dig At Sinner After Latest Doping Saga Twist

Monday, 30 September 2024 at 07:00

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byErik Virostko

Nick Kyrgios once again shared his opinion on Jannik Sinner's doping saga after the latest twist in it.

Only recently, the reigning World No. 1 player on the ATP Tour was cleared of any wrong-doing by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in his case of a two positive test for the banned substance clostebol in March, and it seemed that he would be able to forget the doping case and focus on his tennis career.

However, that changed on Saturday, September 28th, when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed Sinner's case. While WADA agreed with many of the ITIA's findings, they didn't agree with its ruling that Sinner had no fault.

Sinner was obviously disappointed by the WADA's decision to appeal the case, as he immediately reacted to the news during his participation at the 2024 China Open, where he already reached the quarter-finals of the tournament.

However, some of his fellow players immediately reacted as well. Nick Kyrgios has been one of the loudest voices in the case, as he wasn't happy with how it was handled, suggesting that there was preferential treatment because of the Italian's status as the World No. 1 player.

After the news of WADA's appeal broke, the Australian player was quick to react, providing a comment on his social media platforms, in which he claimed that Sinner might not be as 'innocent' as it might have seemed based on the initial ruling.

"Haha maybe not so innocent after all eh?"

The 2022 Wimbledon Championship finalist then further commented on the situation. Kyrgios' message implied that Sinner might have previously got away without a punishment because of his status.

"Haha god I hope the people running this thing don’t care that he is number 1 and has money."

However, Kyrgios wasn't the only one to comment. Coco Gauff's ex-coach, Brad Gilbert, was quick to comment on social media as well, sharing his thoughts on the appeal.

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The 63-year-old coach's statement made it clear that he fully supported Sinner and thought the appeal was not reasonable, especially given the amount of the substance found in the Italian player's body.

"I am completely disheveled by this WADA decision, was 8000 times smaller then a gram of salt. This now will unfortunately take months to figure out, where is the players representation on this, other than Sinner paying for his own lawyers."

Richard Ings, who is former head of the ATP's anti-doping program, immediately hit out at the 'conspiracy theorists' in his reaction to the news, as the views on the situation remain very divided.

"Let me guess, WADA’s playing 3D chess with this one, right? Maybe they’re in on the Sinner cover-up but making this appeal just to throw off the conspiracy theorists. Here’s the deal: if WADA disagrees with a first-instance decision, it files an appeal. That’s how it works."