(Reuters) – Nick Kyrgios said the recent doping incidents involving Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek were “disgusting” for the sport, as the Australian slammed authorities on Saturday over what he saw as lenient treatment in their cases.
World number one Sinner failed two drug tests in March for trace amounts of the anabolic androgenic steroid clostebol but was cleared of any wrongdoing by an independent tribunal that accepted his explanation of unintentional contamination.
World number two Swiatek accepted a one-month ban after a positive test for hormone and metabolic modulator trimetazidine, which she said was the result of contamination of her sleep medication.
“I just think that it’s been handled horrifically in our sport. Two world number ones both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport. It’s a horrible look,” Kyrgios told reporters in Brisbane, where he is making his injury return.
“The tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it, but no one wants to speak about it, is awful. It’s not okay.
“I know that people don’t like when I just speak out about things, be honest about things. For a kid that grew up playing tennis, I enjoyed the competition, I enjoyed playing.
“I can get emotional, I can throw a racket, but that’s nothing compared to cheating and taking performance-enhancing drugs. That’s ridiculous in my opinion.”
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) maintains that all doping cases are dealt with based on facts and evidence and not a player’s name, ranking or nationality, but has not been able to completely see off allegations of double standards.
Reuters has contacted the ITIA for comment.
Australian Open and U.S. Open champion Sinner faces a ban of up to two years after the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed his case at sport’s highest court.
The Italian has previously stated he cannot control what anyone says about his case.
Asked if he believed that Sinner had done something wrong, Kyrgios pointed to the facts of the case.
“He did fail two doping tests at separate times, as well. It wasn’t one after the other. They were a different time frame,” the Australian said.
“So if you think that that’s the way that it got in his system. If that’s how you think it’s happened, then…
“But if he didn’t do anything wrong, why did they take his prize money and points (at Indian Wells) away? Obviously they found something wrong with it. Obviously WADA has appealed it because of this.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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