Four years on from the peak of Nick Kyrgios’ tumultuous tennis career, gracing the biggest stage of the men’s game in the singles final at Wimbledon against Novak Djokovic, comes the indisputable nadir.
It was only on Tuesday that the antagonistic Australian appeared in an Instagram video with model and influencer Florentine Dekkers, where he reiterated his stance that the grass court major is his favourite Grand Slam, notably ahead of his home tournament in Melbourne. No wonder: this is a man who annually voiced his glee in revelling in the south-west London sun, a regular visitor to the popular Dog & Fox pub in Wimbledon Village.
Yet what we know now is that Kyrgios, a week before this year’s Wimbledon, took a drugs test at another one of his favoured events, the ATP 250 event in Mallorca, which has since confirmed the presence of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine. On the same day, he lost to compatriot Adam Walton in straight sets. Kyrgios has been provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency and, while he has the right to appeal, he has not done so yet.
For what it’s worth, Kyrgios’s response on social media on Wednesday was commendable. In a lengthy statement, the former World No 13 apologised to his supporters and sponsors, the “kids who follow me”, and insisted he is “deeply disappointed in himself.” He also revealed he will take 28 days away from social media and public life, adding that the case has “given him a wake-up call.”
In reality, the ban actually changes little for Kyrgios on the court. Owing to a lack of fitness and motivation, Kyrgios has barely played over the last three years, blighted by ankle, knee and wrist injuries. In fact, he has featured in just 10 singles matches on tour in the last 46 months, winning only two. He has not featured since playing doubles with Alexander Bublik at Wimbledon and was not expected to play at the US Open at the end of the month.
Instead, the Aussie maverick has made more on-court headlines for exhibition appearances – such as his “Battle of the Sexes” match against Aryna Sabalenka in December – than achievements on tour, so much so that his current singles ranking puts him at 919 in the world. For a player with so many big-hitting weapons, and a man who seemed to have put his questionable histrionics behind him with his memorable run to the final at SW19, it has been a devastating spell on the sidelines.
Off-court, however, it has been a turbulent few years. In 2023, he admitted assaulting an ex-girlfriend but avoided a criminal conviction. In 2024, amid the height of his hiatus, Kyrgios dabbled in punditry for the BBC at Wimbledon, a hire which drew criticism given he shared a social media post from self-proclaimed “misogynist” Andrew Tate four months earlier. Kyrgios then said he had gone to “all lengths” to distance himself from the controversial influencer but, pointedly, the BBC did not re-hire him for last year’s Championships.
Yet Kyrgios’ most notable off-court outbursts in the last few years, at least in the tennis world, have come in response to the drug cases and sanctions of world No 1 stars Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek. Last year’s Wimbledon champions were both given suspensions (Sinner three months; Swiatek one month) after testing positive for performance-enhancing substances. Both players deny any wrongdoing but were handed punishments which meant they did not miss any Grand Slam tournaments.
Kyrgios described the cases as “disgusting for our sport”. He added: “It’s a horrible look. Tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it, but no one wants to speak about it… it’s awful.
“Someone like me… I would never even in my entire life ever try and dope in this sport.” While there is a distinct difference between potentially purposeful doping for performance purposes and recreational drug taking, the irony of Kyrgios’ words is now inescapable given the current circumstances.
But where does this leave him now? There seem to be two obvious routes. The first, which Kyrgios has recently hinted at anyway, is retirement from the sport with which he has had an unmistakable “love-hate” relationship.
Depending on his sanction – which could actually be as short as three months if Kyrgios can prove it was an “out of competition” ingestion – hanging up his racket could be the inevitable and predictable finale to a controversial and engrossing decade in the sport. The acceptance of giving up that underlying purpose and profession, though, would be a tough pill to swallow.
Yet there is precedent for a second, altogether more prosperous, road to recovery. In 2017, British player Dan Evans received a one-year ban after also testing positive for cocaine. The outspoken Brummie, a fellow pundit alongside Kyrgios for TNT Sports last year, acknowledged his mistakes, took his punishment and returned with a fresh outlook and vigour. He went on to reach a career-high world ranking of 21 in 2023 and won two tour titles: one in Melbourne in 2021 and a standout underdog triumph in Washington in 2023.
At 31, Kyrgios still just about has time on his side. For all his numerous outbursts, he still brings a certain charisma and eccentricity to tennis; one which can captivate a different kind of audience with his penchant for underarm serves and all-out variety. All too often, however, that unshakeable personality has given way to snide remarks and foolish behaviour, both on and off the court. Mimicking masturbation with a water bottle, for instance, was one lewd example from 2018.
And all the indications to this point imply that Kyrgios is likely to set off into the sunset, instead prioritising his love of basketball, gaming and clippable videos on social media. As he said in his Instagram statement: “I didn’t choose tennis – tennis chose me.”
Yet the final line of said statement perhaps hints at a lightbulb moment: “I’ll do the work and come back better.” A career which has had a multitude of unforgettable chapters, from his outrageous tweener strike against Rafael Nadal as a teenager at Wimbledon in 2014 to this latest moment of shame, may not have actually reached its conclusion just yet.
