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Nick Kyrgios and Jannik Sinner - Miami Open 2022
ATP Tennis Players, Australian Open, Jannik Sinner, Nick Kyrgios, Tennis News

Nick Kyrgios predicted to lose to Jannik Sinner by former World No.1


Nick Kyrgios has stated his hope to play Jannik Sinner at the upcoming Australian Open, but former doubles World No.1 Nicolas Mahut does not think that it will go in his favour.

Kyrgios is currently building up to a long-awaited comeback, after playing only one match in the past two years following struggling with knee, foot and wrist injuries.

The Australian will make his official return at the Brisbane International, and Kyrgios recently spoke to the Nothing Major Podcast about how he wanted to play World No.1 Sinner at the Australian Open.

“Let’s be honest, I just want to go out there and I really want to play Sinner,” said Kyrgios. “If I played him in the Australian Open, I’d get every person in the crowd to get on him. I would turn into an absolute riot. All respect would go out the window and I would just do anything to win.”

Sinner has dominated the 2024 season on the ATP Tour having lost just six matches, but has also faced an off-court battle after testing positive for the banned substance clostebol.

The Italian was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), but was subsequently allowed to continue playing about being cleared of any wrongdoing on the grounds of contamination.

However, the case is still far from over, with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealing the ITIA’s verdict and revealing that they were seeking a ban for Sinner of ‘one to two years’.

Kyrgios has been very outspoken against Sinner during this case, but Mahut believes that the 29-year-old is making ‘unnecessary’ statements and predicted what would happen if the pair were to face off in Melbourne.

“I don’t like these kind of statements,” Mahut told Eurosport. “He has the right to have an opinion on Sinner’s positive test, everyone is free to think what they want, but to inflame the situation like this… Sinner has never disrespected anyone, he is the world No.1, so it’s unnecessary.”

The five-time major winner added, “I think all things before the game are trickier for Sinner to do than the game itself. Kyrgios hasn’t played for a long time and of course you can dream of the title at the Australian Open, but you also have to remain realistic. Even if the crowd gets excited, Sinner is going to win that with 6-3’s.”

In their only previous meeting at the Miami Open two years ago, Sinner beat Kyrgios in straight sets.

Sinner is not playing at the Brisbane International, so the first tournament that the pair can go head-to-head is at the Australian Open that begins on Sunday 12th January.

Inside the baseline…

Nicolas Mahut has hit the nail on the head really, of course Nick Kyrgios like anyone is allowed an opinion on the Jannik Sinner doping case, but the way he has chosen to go about it has not been right at all. Kyrgios may think that he has a chance with the home crowd on his side, but probability says that the outcome will be a straight sets victory for Sinner, just like Mahut predicted.

READ MORE: Nick Kyrgios hints that he will play doubles with Novak Djokovic at upcoming tournament

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Matthew Johns, Tennishead Writer, is a professional tennis journalist with a specialist degree in Sports Journalism. He's a keen tennis player having represented his local club and University plus he's also a qualified tennis coach. Matthew has a deep knowledge of tennis especially the ATP Tour and thrives on breaking big tennis news stories for Tennishead.