Kyrgios Takes Dig At Wimbledon Champions Sinner And Swiatek Over Doping Cases
NewsMonday, 14 July 2025 at 09:12
Nick Kyrgios reiterated his strong view about Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek's doping cases and bans, arguing that their Wimbledon final appearances are a bad look for tennis.
Sinner served a three-month suspension that ended a few days before the 2025 Italian Open in a case settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency after testing positive for clostebol at the 2024 Indian Wells Open.
Swiatek received a one-month ban for a positive test for trimetazidine. Many believe this year's Wimbledon Champion was unfortunate to be suspended because she took melatonin tablets, a legal product used by many players, and could not have reasonably expected them to be contaminated.
Although Kyrgios has expressed some displeasure with Swiatek, his most fiery comments have been reserved for ATP world No. 1 Sinner. The Australian has repeatedly said he does not believe the Italian's story of how the positive test occurred, and wanted him banned for longer.
Speaking to the i Paper, Kyrgios outlined how he thinks Sinner and Swiatek's participation in the men's and women's Wimbledon finals harms tennis's reputation, but also acknowledged it is an old issue that cannot be changed.
"At the end of the day, the decision has been made, and it’s kind of in the past. Do I think it’s a good look for the sport that [Iga] Swiatek [who served a one-month suspension for an inadvertent positive test last year] and Sinner are in the final at Wimbledon after serving a ban? I don’t think it’s a good look for the sport."
"And I think people could agree. But I’m not going to sit there and talk about that [on commentary] in the final. They’ve been playing some incredible tennis. Sinner, he served a ban, which do I agree with? No. But he came back and he’s been playing some excellent tennis."
Kyrgios also gave a brutally honest assessment of the current state of tennis. Despite thinking the players produce much good tennis, the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up believes the sport needs more big personalities and rivalries.
"At the moment, tennis is pretty boring, to be honest. There’s not many rivalries. I’ve watched and broken it down and been commentating on it: the level is amazing. But there’s more rivalries and more excitement on the women’s side. Raducanu vs Sabalenka was an amazing match, Anisimova vs Sabalenka, there was more bitterness and more of a rivalry in these matches than I’m seeing on the men’s side."
"We watch sport for the excitement of two people, maybe not liking each other. I think we’ve got some great personalities as well. I think [Jack] Draper going down early, [Frances] Tiafoe going down, and some of these more personality guys that went down early didn’t help."
"I’m not saying Alcaraz and Sinner need to have been in a fight or anything like that. It’s hard because the game is missing Federer and Nadal, and Djokovic has… well, he said that it’s not his last match, but I don’t know how believable that is from how I saw him physically [against Sinner]. Alcaraz and Sinner are going to be carrying the torch for the next 10 to 15 years."
Although he is a divisive figure, Kyrgios often tries to find ways to attract attention to tennis. Recently, the 30-year-old outlined plans to play a Battle of the Sexes match against Aryna Sabalenka.
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