Nick Kyrgios Posts Asterisk After Jannik Sinner Wins Wimbledon As Reminder Of Failed Drug Tests
Kyrgios believes the Wimbledon champ should have received a ban
He's polarizing, he's flashy, and he may be the cockiest professional athlete of his generation, but there is no denying that Nick Kyrgios is a one-of-one entertainer.
The Australian has never seen a pot that he doesn't want to stir, and while many in the tennis world have moved past the controversy surrounding Jannik Sinner, Kyrgios refuses to do the same.
Shortly after Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz in four sets on Sunday to win the first Wimbledon title of his young career, Kyrgios jumped on X and posted an asterisk, and it doesn't take much digging to know what he was getting at with his post.
Sinner, the No. 1 player in the world, failed two separate drug tests when a banned substance was found in his system in March 2024. He tested positive for clostebol, an Anabolic steroid, during Indian Wells and was popped for a second time weeks later in an out-of-competition sample.
Sinner blamed the trace amounts entering his system on an over-the-counter spray his team used on him to treat a small wound. An independent commission concluded that the substance entered Sinner's system through "daily massages and sports therapy," and while provisional suspensions were handed out to the Italian, he escaped any sort of lengthy drug ban.
When it was announced that Sinner had avoided any serious punishment or suspension, Kyrgios shared that he believes he should be banned from the sport for two years.
During the 2024 U.S. Open, which Sinner went on to win, Kyrgios doubled down on his opinion that the Italian should have faced a ban.
So, it's essentially a guarantee that the asterisk that Kyrgios posted on Sunday afternoon was him saying Sinner's Wimbledon title deserves one, given his recent history with failed drug tests.
The day before Sinner captured his first Wimbledon title, Iga Swiatek won her first Wimbledon title on the women's side. She received a one-month suspension in November 2024 following a positive test for the banned substance trimetazidine.