Nick Kyrgios' epic criticism of Jannik Sinner: Every word Aussie said about World No. 1 at Brisbane interview amid doping row feud

Nick Kyrgios is primed to make his comeback at the Brisbane International 2025 after missing the last two seasons due to injuries. Despite his on-court absence, he kept himself ingrained in the world of tennis by taking up commentating gigs. Even without a side job, he has never been the one to shy from expressing his views.

So when Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek's doping scandals rocked the tennis fraternity, Kyrgios went on the offensive, especially against the Italian. He was asked about his thoughts on the matter during a press conference ahead of his match in Brisbane.

Krygios started by emphasizing that he would never take any performance enhancing substances. After undergoing wrist and knee surgeries over the past two years, there were options to speed up his recovery but he didn't want to consume anything illicit.

"First of all, I mean, someone like me who I would never even in my entire life ever try and dope in this sport. This is something, I mean, 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," - Nick Kyrgios said.

Kyrgios felt that instead of labeling him as disrespectful for speaking up, the ones who cheat should be branded that way. He further stated that the only reason why he's making so much noise about this is because he felt that the matter was being hushed up.

"That's just not who I am. I'm always against that. So for me when people are saying that I'm disrespectful to the sport, I think someone like that that has tried to cheat the process, and actually not done it completely on their own merit, is the disrespectful one in my opinion," - Nick Kyrgios said.

"But, yeah, I mean, I have to be outspoken about it because I don't think there's enough people that are speaking about it. I think people are trying to sweep it under the rug and saying that about the amount and all this. It's like nothing about that," - he added.

Kyrgios stated that not all players are treated the same way, and cited his compatriot Max Purcell as an example, who's in the midst of his own scandal.

"And there's not fair treatment for every single player. We've seen that with Max Purcell. The reason that's different is because he went to the authorities first, he admitted he had done something that was on the prohibited list. He was outspoken about it. That's how it should be, rather than all this sweeping under the rug, not knowing, question marks," - Nick Kyrgios said.

While Kyrgios acknowledged that Sinner is a great player, he felt that the whole matter wasn't handled in the best way. Coupled with Swiatek's own brush with doping, integrity of the sport is at an all-time low according to him.

"Okay, he's No. 1 in the world, he is an amazing tennis player. I never said he's not. I just think the treatment has to be fair for everyone. Two world No. 1s both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport. It's a horrible look. Yeah, the tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it, but no one wants to speak about it, it's awful. It's actually awful. And it's not okay," - Nick Kyrgios said.

Kyrgios took cognizance of his own behavioral issues but stated that his on-court tantrums pale in comparison to players who dope.

"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 racquet, but that's nothing compared to cheating and taking performance-enhancing drug performance-enhancing drugs. That's ridiculous in my opinion," - Nick Kyrgios said.

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Nick Kyrgios questions Jannik Sinner's innocence: "If he didn't do anything wrong, then why did they take his prize money and points away?"

Nick Kyrgios at the Brisbane International 2025. (Photo: Getty)

The reason why Nick Kyrgios believes that Jannik Sinner did something wrong is because he failed two tests on different occasions. Furthermore, he cited stripping the Italian of his ranking points and prize money as proof of wrongdoing.

"Well, I mean, your question is do I think that he failed two steroid drug tests, which factually happened? He did fail two doping tests at separate times, as well. It wasn't one after the other. They were a different time frame. So, I mean, if you think that that's the way that it got in his system. If that's how you think it's happened, then..." - Nick Kyrgios said.

"But, I mean, if he didn't do anything wrong, then why did they take his prize money and points away? Obviously they found something wrong with it. Obviously WADA has appealed it because of all this," - he continued.

Sinner's physiotherapist was found to be at fault for him testing positive for the banned substance. However, he and his team didn't immediately let go of him and kept him until the ordeal came to light. Kyrgios stated that if he was in the same position, he would've fired him on the spot.

"I'd be livid. If my physiotherapist contaminated me, put me in this position, I would probably never talk to the guy again. He had the guy on his team for five months, acting like nothing happened. That's susses anything, if you ask me, yeah," - he said.

Kyrgios will now aim to bring this level of intensity on the court as well as he gears up for his comeback. He will begin his campaign in Brisbane against World No. 31 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. He will also play doubles alongside Novak Djokovic, and the two will take on Alexander Erler and Andreas Mies in their opener.