Nick Kyrgios takes swipe at Simona Halep after doping ban and mocks Maria Sakkari over her comments

Tennis News
Nick Kyrgios in action

Nick Kyrgios was never going to waste an opportunity to weigh in on former world No 1 Simona Halep’s ban after she was found guilty of two doping offences.

Two-time Grand Slam winner Halep was first provisionally suspended in October last year after the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced she had tested positive for blood-boosting drug roxadustat at the US Open.

A few months later she was charged with a second doping offence due to irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).

The Romanian protested her innocence throughout and also received support from her former coaches Darren Cahill and Patrick Mouratoglou.

However, both the charges have been upheld following an independent tribunal and the 31-year-old was handed a four-year ban, meaning she will only be able to return to competition on October 2026.

Kyrgios took to X/Twitter to hit back at those who criticised him for not being too sympathetic and questioning his career record, taking an indirect swing at Halep in the process.

“What is your record, have you won a slam, No, Have you won a 1000 no, have you participated in the ATP Finals, have you had an Olympic medal No. What record are you talking about?” one user asked.

Kyrgios replied: “I’d imagine if I was taking similar things to be banned for 4 years I’d have about 5 slams. Potato.”

READ MORE: Time line of the shocking Simona Halep drug ban – and what comes next

Halep has already confirmed she will appeal and the news has grabbed headlines with players asking for their opinions not only on the ban, but also the procedures from the World Ant-Doping Agency when it comes to testing.

Maria Sakkari stated at the San Diego Open: “One thing I can tell you for sure is the way they’re handling every situation with any player, any athlete, it’s just scary.”

Asked how she would improve the system, the Greek admitted that the current app is “horrible”.

“I would for sure improve the whereabouts app that they have, it is horrible, it doesn’t work well. It’s supposed to remind you every day of your time slot and it doesn’t. They tried to improve it, but it’s not working very well. For us, we travel so much compared to other athletes.

“It’s just very stressful. I wake up almost every night to use the bathroom. If that’s close to my time slot, I’m just thinking ‘Do I go? Do I not go? Do I just wait if they come?’ It’s just very stressful.”

And again Kyrgios did not share her views, stating: “Ehhhh not really lol, I run on bananas and coke cola in 5 set battles. And my record in them speaks for itself. Maybe players should just stop taking shady sh*t 😂 look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say yep I did it right. Not hard.”

Maria Sakkari Nick Kyrgios Simona Halep

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