RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Australian tested positive at event in June
Kyrgios and Tsitsipas have clashed in the past
Stefanos Tsitsipas says he is not surprised that Nick Kyrgios was suspended from tennis for taking cocaine.
“Pretty much expected, to be honest,” Tsitsipas said. “I am surprised it came so late, though.”
Kyrgios tested positive for cocaine in June when he was playing at an ATP 250 event in Mallorca. In an Instagram post in August, the Australian said he had “made a huge mistake” and been given a provisional ban from tennis for the offence. He could be suspended for four years, though a lighter punishment is expected.
Tsitsipas was asked about Kyrgios on Monday after upsetting the No 10 seed, Arthur Fils, in the first round of the US Open.
“I mean, to be entirely honest with you, I knew about this before the announcement. Myself, I knew about it,” Tsitsipas said. “So what can I tell you? I will just tell you the truth. I knew about all of this before any announcement was made, and when I saw it on social media, I was, like, ‘Here we go.’ I kind of expected it, to be honest.”
Tsitsipas and Kyrgios played a fiery third-round match at Wimbledon in 2022, when Kyrgios reached his only grand slam final. Tsitsipas blasted a couple of shots directly at Kyrgios, intentionally hit a ball into the crowd, and afterwards called Kyrgios a “bully.”
Kyrgios has battled a series of injuries since then and said when he was suspended that he had felt “helpless and alone”.
“I’m not going to make excuses, but I do want to give some context about where I’ve been,” wrote in his Instagram post announcing his suspension. “The last couple of years of injuries have taken a huge toll on me, both physically and mentally. My body hasn’t been able to do what my mind expects it to do, and coming to terms with being near the end of my career has been harder than I ever imagined.”
Kyrgios’s situation was not a surprise to Tsitsipas.
“I knew that those were things that were happening away from the tennis courts. I will tell you that,” he said. “I’m not going to try and cover up someone that I know the truth for. I’ll consider myself a nice person with everyone, but these were behaviors that I personally heard on the tour and heard other people in that same environment saying those sort of things to me.”
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