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Jannik Sinner - US Open 2024, Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios - Wimbledon 2022
ATP Tennis Players, Jannik Sinner, Nick Kyrgios, Novak Djokovic, Tennis News

Novak Djokovic claims Nick Kyrgios ‘has spoken very well’ about Jannik Sinner doping case


Novak Djokovic has spoken out about World No.1 Jannik Sinner’s ongoing doping case, backing doubles partner Nick Kyrgios and labelling the situation as ‘frustrating’.

Djokovic and Kyrgios are both currently in Brisbane for the Australian Open warm-up event, where they will be playing singles and doubles together for the first time.

Ahead of the tournament both players have been speaking to press before the 2025 season gets underway, with a lot of Kyrgios’ questions yesterday focussing on current doping situations in the sport.

Kyrgios has been very outspoken against Sinner in recent months, as well as WTA No.2 Iga Swiatek, both who were found to have low traces of prohibited substances during the 2024 season.

When speaking to media in Brisbane, Kyrgios described the cases as ‘disgusting for our sport’, “Two world No.1’s both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport. It’s a horrible look. Tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it but no one wants to speak about it, is awful.

“I would never even in my entire life ever try and dope in this sport, especially going through an injury like I went through. Obviously there are things out there that could speed up healing, help me get back to prime level, help my recovery. There’s so many things out there that are prohibited in our sport that I could have been doing to get me back quicker. That’s just not who I am. I’m always against that.”

The Australian added, “I [pay] my team hundreds and thousands of dollars to be the professionals they are, to make sure that doesn’t happen, so they [Sinner’s team] knew it happened. Why did they wait five to six months to do anything about it? He kept his team for five months. That doesn’t make sense.”

Both Sinner and Swiatek were cleared of any wrongdoing by the International Tennis Integrity Authority (ITIA) on the grounds of contamination. Swiatek did accept a one month suspension and missed three tournaments in the Asian swing.

However, Sinner’s case is still not over, with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealing the ITIA’s decision and are seeking a ban for the Italian of between one and two years.

While Djokovic has suggested that Sinner does not seem the type to intentionally dope, the 24-time major winner has backed Kyrgios’ continually speaking about the situation.

“Nick has spoken very well about the whole Jannik doping case, and he’s right about the transparency and the inconsistency of the protocols and the comparisons between the various cases,” claimed Novak Djokovic.

“We have seen many players in the past, and also currently, who have been suspended for not even having undergone anti-doping tests and for not having communicated their whereabouts, and some lower-ranked players who have been waiting for their cases to be resolved for more than a year.”

The Serbian continued, “I don’t question whether the prohibited substance was taken intentionally [by Sinner] or not. I believe in clean sport, I believe that the player will do everything possible to play fair.

“I’ve known Jannik since he was very young, so he doesn’t seem like the type of person who would do something like that, but I felt really frustrated, like most other players, to see that we were kept in the dark for five months after he received that news. It’s not a good image for our sport.”

Djokovic and Kyrgios will get their 2025 seasons underway tomorrow in a doubles match against Alexander Erler and Andreas Mies, before kicking off their singles campaigns on Tuesday.

Inside the baseline…

While Novak Djokovic is entitled to his opinion, the majority of people who are not his doubles partner would not say Nick Kyrgios has ‘spoken well’ about this situation. It is important that we speak about issues like this and it has been a big topic of conversation this year with such high-profile names involved in doping scandals, but Kyrgios speaking about Jannik Sinner has gone past that and has felt almost like an obsession beyond the topic of conversation.

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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.