Nick Kyrgios takes swipe at ‘saltiest dude’ after doping ban – ‘Can’t say I’m surprised’

Shahida Jacobs
Nick Kyrgios pointing the finger

Nick Kyrgios has reignited hostilities towards Fernando Verdasco after he decided to weigh in on the Spaniard’s doping ban.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced this week that Verdasco had accepted a voluntary two-month doping suspension after testing positive for the drug methylphenidate.

The former world No 7’s positive result came at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in February this year, but he told the ITIA that it was as a result of failing to renew a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).

Verdasco, who has slipped to No 125 in the ATP Rankings, admitted the anti-doping rule violation, but revealed he legitimately used methylphenidate as medication prescribed by his physician to treat his ADHD in accordance with a TUE.

He has since been granted a new TUE by the World Anti-Doping Agency and was slapped with a two-month ban.

Kyrgios retweeted the story with the caption: “Can’t say I’m surprised with this one.”

It is not the first time and unlikely to be the last time that Kyrgios has had a run-in with Verdasco as back in 2018 the Australian described him as “the saltiest dude”.

“I hope TK wins this match, Verdasco is the saltiest dude, must be frustrated at his past success against Aussies,” he wrote on Twitter during Thanasi Kokkinakis’ match against the former world No 7 at the Miami Open.

The tweet was deleted, but the former Australian Open semi-finalist was aware of the “insult” and replied: “@NickKyrgios when you have the courage to put a tweet insulting another player you need to have the same to don’t delete it.”

The Australian was then blocked by Verdasco, but he still replied: “I would honestly have told it to Fernando’s face, the reason I deleted my previous tweet was because I didn’t want to cause unwanted attention, but I’m just gonna leave this here. Thanks for blocking me, I’m sure that took a lot of courage x”

In 2019 Kyrgios again took aim at the Spaniard.

“Verdasco drives me nuts, man. That guy … I don’t even want to talk about it,” he said in a podcast with Ben Rothenberg.

“It gets me so vexed, I’m like angry now that I just hear that name. He’s the most arrogant person ever.

“He doesn’t say hello, he thinks he’s so good, he thinks he’s God’s gift. Dude, your backhand’s pretty average and let’s be honest, you hit a ball over a net.

“Guy’s like that, they drive me insane.”

READ MORE: Nick Kyrgios and ‘saltiest dude’ Fernando Verdasco in Twitter row

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