{"id":53425,"date":"2026-08-19T13:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/53425\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T13:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:00:16","slug":"former-wimbledon-finalist-nick-kyrgios-suspended-after-testing-positive-for-cocaine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/53425\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios suspended after testing positive for cocaine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Nick Kyrgios, pictured here in 2023, owned up to his ‘huge mistake’ in a public apology.Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios was provisionally suspended from tennis on Wednesday after testing positive for cocaine, with the volatile Australian owning up to his \u201chuge mistake\u201d in a public apology.<\/p>\n

The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced the suspension of the 31-year-old following a positive test for benzoylecgonine, a cocaine metabolite, from a sample taken during an ATP 250 event in Mallorca in June.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios, who reached a career-high rank of 13, has been provisionally suspended since Aug. 4 after a World Anti-Doping Agency laboratory confirmed the presence of the banned stimulant on July 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recently failed a drug test in Mallorca after testing positive for cocaine. I made a huge mistake and I take full responsibility for it,\u201d Kyrgios said on Instagram.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry to my fans, my family, my sponsors and everyone close to me. Above all, I\u2019m sorry to the kids who follow me. I know the example this sets and I\u2019m deeply disappointed in myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cocaine is classified as a stimulant and substance of abuse on the WADA Prohibited List and is banned in competition under tennis anti-doping rules.<\/p>\n

Physical and mental toll<\/p>\n

Kyrgios said he made no excuses but painted a picture of a player struggling with the twilight of his career, citing the mental toll of recent injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do want to give some context about where I\u2019ve been. The last couple of years of injuries have taken a huge toll on me, both physically and mentally,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy body hasn\u2019t been able to do what my mind expects it to do and coming to terms with being near the end of my career has been harder than I ever imagined.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said I didn\u2019t choose tennis \u2013 tennis chose me. But letting go of something that has been my whole life is one of the hardest things I\u2019ve ever had to face. At times I\u2019ve felt helpless and alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyrgios, a Wimbledon finalist in 2022, has been unable to recapture that form after a series of injury setbacks, including missing the entire 2024 season.<\/p>\n

He has undergone wrist reconstruction and knee surgeries, playing only 10 matches since the start of 2023 which has sent his ranking tumbling.<\/p>\n

His most recent appearance came at Wimbledon earlier this year, where he teamed up with Alexander Bublik in the doubles draw where the pair were beaten in the opening round.<\/p>\n

While suspended, Kyrgios cannot play in, coach at, or attend any events organized by World Tennis, WTA, ATP, the Grand Slams, or any national association.<\/p>\n

No appeal from Kyrgios<\/p>\n

The Australian has not appealed the provisional suspension and said he would step away from social media and public life for 28 days to \u201cfocus on getting myself right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry. I\u2019ll do the work and come back better,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios had previously been quite vocal about doping bans, saying the incidents involving Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek were \u201cdisgusting\u201d for the sport while slamming authorities over what he saw as lenient treatment in their cases.<\/p>\n

Sinner failed two drug tests in 2024 for trace amounts of the anabolic androgenic steroid clostebol and served a three-month ban, but was cleared of any wrongdoing, while Swiatek accepted a one-month ban after a positive test for hormone and metabolic modulator trimetazidine.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo world number ones both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport. It\u2019s a horrible look,\u201d Kyrgios had said.<\/p>\n

He also admitted having suicidal thoughts in 2019 after a second-round loss to Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon, revealing that he \u201cended up in a psych ward in London\u201d to figure out his problems. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Nick Kyrgios, pictured here in 2023, owned up to his ‘huge mistake’ in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1457,1443,1458,1406,1435,1459,425,1434,1448,1449,1445,1436,1433,1453,1455,1452,1447,1442,1470,1437,1438,763,1444,681,543,1460,1440,1465,1466,1468,1463,1467,1461,1464,1439,986,1451,32,1450,1462,1291,1454,1456,1446,1441,285,783,1469],"class_list":["post-53425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wimbledon","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-wimbledon","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}