Nick Kyrgios makes his stance against Jannik Sinner still being allowed to play on ATP Tour amid ongoing doping saga absolutely clear

Nick Kyrgios has once again questioned Jannik Sinner's participation on the ATP Tour as the Italian's doping saga woes continue. In its latest chapter, CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) confirmed that WADA's (World Anti-Doping Agency) appeal of World No.1's previous verdict was underway.

Back in Indian Wells, in March this year, Sinner had tested positive for Clostebol, a banned anabolic drug. However, he claimed that the consumption was unintentional and had entered his body through bare-handed body massages from his ex-physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi. Naldi, at the time, was using a healing spray containing Clostebol for a cut on his finger.

The ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency) deemed the amount of substance found to be not performance-enhancing and cleared the 23-year-old to continue.

The news was only made public after the Cincinnati Masters in August and sparked a lot of criticism from the tennis fraternity. Many felt that there was bias involved in the Italian's verdict. One of Sinner's biggest critics was Nick Kyrgios, who had been calling the Italian, ever since the verdict came out. Amidst all this, he won the 2024 US Open.

However, there was a new twist in Sinner's case as WADA appealed the Itaian's verdict to CAS and asked for a one to two-year ban on the Italian.

Tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg took to X to announce that CAS had confirmed that WADA's appeal of the doping case was underway.

Kyrgios, who has been against the ITIA's verdict, commented on the tweet and said,

"Why’s he still playing lol," Kyrgios questioned.

"I'm very disappointed and also surprised of this appeal" - Jannik Sinner on WADA's appeal

Jannik Sinner (Source: Getty)

After his second-round win against Roman Safiullin at the 2024 China Open, Jannik Sinner expressed his dismay at WADA's appeal of his original verdict. He said:

"Obviously I'm very disappointed and also surprised of this appeal, to be honest, because we had three hearings. All three hearings came out very positively for me. You know, I was not expecting it. I knew it couple of days ago, that they were going to appeal, that today it's going to go official, so..."

He then reiterated his astonishment as if he felt the topic was getting repetitive despite the positive appeal.

"But yeah, it's surprise. We always talk about the same thing. Maybe they just want to make sure that everything is in the right position. Yeah, I'm just surprised that they appealed."

Sinner then released a statement calling out WADA which once again echoed his dismay at the appeal. He explained how the original verdict was released only after an extensive check but stated that he was ready to give his full cooperation in order to prove his innocence.

Amidst this, the Italian made it to the final of the China Open where Carlos Alcaraz defeated him in a three-set thriller. Following this loss, he entered the Shanghai Masters, where he received a bye in the opening round, as a result of being the top seed. He kicked off his campaign with a comfortable win against Taro Daniel.