Former British No. 1 Laura Robson thinks a match between Jannik Sinner and Nick Kyrgios at the Australian Open would be fascinating but hopes Kyrgios does not follow through on his threat of not showing the Italian any respect.
After only playing one ATP match in the last two years because of injuries, Kyrgios will return to professional tennis next season at the Brisbane International. He and Novak Djokovic are also set to play doubles together at the event.
The Brisbane International will serve as preparation for the Australian Open. Kyrgios has not played at his home Grand Slam since 2022, so there is much excitement about his return.
However, Kyrgios' remarks about Jannik Sinner have generated even more attention than his return to tennis. The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up has been the world No. 1's most vocal critic since his doping case became public.
Sinner twice tested positive for the banned substance clostebol at March's Indian Wells Open. After a private five-month investigation, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) cleared him of wrongdoing.
The ITIA accepted Sinner's explanation that tiny traces of clostebol entered his system after his physiotherapist gave him massages without gloves after using a spray for a cut finger that he did not know contained the banned substance.
Unfortunately for Sinner, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Although the body does not dispute the Italian's explanation of how the clostebol entered his system, it feels Sinner bears some fault.
WADA wants Sinner banned for one to two years. CAS' ruling will be reached sometime in 2025, but not before February 11th, since its cases until then were confirmed, and Sinner's did not feature.
Kyrgios has taken a hardline stance, saying all players who test positive for a banned substance should be banned for two years. The Australian has also implied Sinner took the substance deliberately despite the evidence indicating it was accidental.
Although he has been critical of Sinner since the case became public in August, his fiercest words came a few days ago. Kyrgios wants to play Sinner at the Australian Open and promised to show him no respect and have the entire crowd against him.
Robson worked with Kyrgios as an analyst at last year's Australian Open. The Briton told Eurosport that she does not like his words about showing Sinner no respect but thinks the technical matchup between the pair would be fascinating.
"I don't think you ever want a situation where all respect goes out the window. If we can avoid that, that would be great. It would be super interesting if they played each other, especially in the early rounds, because Nick, he's an unpredictable player anyway."
"But if you played him first round, you just know that you're going to get no rhythm and you'll be walking side to side on his service games quite a lot as he aces you. I think it would have to be close enough for the crowd to get that involved, wouldn't it? It would have to get to a tight score line and something that they can grab onto."
"I want to say he's got that challenge on his hands first to keep it really close, and then we'll see. Because we know that Sinner is going to be sharp in that situation, too."
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