Stefanos Tsitsipas vows not to cover up for Nick Kyrgios after positive cocaine test – ‘I heard about these behaviours’
There was no holding back from Stefanos Tsitsipas as he gave an “honest” answer when he was asked about Nick Kyrgios’ positive test for cocaine.
Former world No 13 Kyrgios has been provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency after he failed a dope test at the Mallorca Championships in June this year.
2022 Wimbledon runner-up Kyrgios took to social media to state “I made a huge mistake and I take full responsibility for it” as he vowed to “do the work and come back better”.
The Australian faces a ban of up to four years – the maximum penalty for failing an anti-doping test – but Tsitsipas suggested the positive test was not just a one-off mistake.
During a post-match press conference after his first-round win against Arthur Fils at the US Open, the Greek was asked: “How did you react when you heard about Nick Kyrgios’ suspension for doping? Did it surprise you?”
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After a long pause, Tsitsipas replied: “I don’t know what to tell you. I mean, to be entirely honest with you, I knew about this before the announcement. Myself, I knew about it.
“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.”
When asked “Did you know about this from before?” he replied: “I knew that those were things that were happening away from the tennis courts, I will tell you that.
“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 behaviours that I personally heard on the tour and heard other people in that same environment saying those sort of things to me.
“Again, when I saw it, I was like, well, pretty much expected to be honest. I am surprised it came so late though.”
Kyrgios, of course, has come under fire as he was an outspoken critic of the likes of Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek and Simona Halep when they failed dope tests often taking to social media to slam them following their various bans over the past few years.
