Stefanos Tsitsipas on Kyrgios' cocaine suspension: "Not going to cover up someone I know the truth about."
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Tsitsipas defeated Arthur Fils in the first round of the US Open.
Stefanos Tsitsipas didn’t hold back on Monday when he was asked about Nick Kyrgios’ cocaine suspension, saying it was something he’d basically seen coming and had actually known about long before it became public.
The Greek star made the comments fresh off a big first-round win at the US Open, where he knocked out in-form 10th seed Arthur Fils in four sets.
Kyrgios failed a drugs test at a tournament in Mallorca back in June, and the sample later came back positive for benzoylecgonine, which is a metabolite of cocaine. He’s been suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) since August 4 and later admitted on social media that he’d made a “huge mistake.”
Tsitsipas didn’t try to dodge the question at all during his press conference. He was pretty upfront about it, indicating that this wasn’t news to him, and he wasn’t shy about saying so either.
There’s also a bit of history between these two, since they had a tense run-in back at Wimbledon in 2022, where Tsitsipas called Kyrgios a “bully” during a heated on-court moment.
‘I kind of expected it, to be honest’ – Tsitsipas
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Kyrgios reached his only Grand Slam final at that same tournament (Wimbledon 2022), so the two have never really been on the best terms since.
He didn’t just stop at saying it was expected either. Tsitsipas made it quite clear that this whole situation had been an open secret in certain circles for a while now, at least as far as he was concerned.
“Pretty much expected, to be honest. I am surprised it came so late, though,” Tsitsipas said.
“I mean, to be entirely honest with you, I knew about this before the announcement. 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.’
He went even further, making clear he wasn’t going to pretend he was in the dark about any of it.
“I knew that those were things that were happening away from the tennis courts. I will tell you that,” he added.
“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.”
As for Tsitsipas himself, things are finally looking up again after a rough stretch through 2025. He hit 50 winners against the Frenchman, Fils, on Monday and will now face qualifier Lloyd Harris of South Africa in the second round, chasing more momentum after once reaching World No. 3 and a couple of Grand Slam finals earlier in his career.
Why was Nick Kyrgios suspended from tennis?
Kyrgios was suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (IATA) after failing a drug test at a tournament in Mallorca in June. The sample came back positive for benzoylecgonine, which is a metabolite of cocaine.
What did Stefanos Tsitsipas say about the suspension?
Tsitsipas said he wasn’t surprised at all, and actually knew about the situation before the ITIA made it public. He said, “I knew about this before the announcement… when I saw it on social media, I was, like, ‘Here we go.’ I kind of expected it, to be honest.”
Do Tsitsipas and Kyrgios have a history with each other?
Yes. The two have had tension in the past, most notably at Wimbledon in 2022, where Tsitsipas called Kyrgios a “bully” during a heated on-court clash.
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