By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, August 31, 2026
Photo credit: Scott Kinser/Wick Photography
NEW YORK—Nick Kyrgios‘ failed drug test and admission he’s done cocaine came as no surprise to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Former world No. 3 Tsitsipas “expected” Kyrgios would test positive for cocaine, the Greek told the media at the US Open today.
Playing the dynamic tennis that propelled him to two Grand Slam finals, Tsitsipas snapped Cincinnati champion Arthur Fils’ six-match winning streak with a stirring 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-3 over the 10th-seeded Frenchman on Armstrong Stadium.
Tsitsipas rallied from a one-set, 2-5 deficit to post his first Top 20 win at the US Open and defeat the 10th-seeded Frenchman for the first time in six meetings.
Afterward, Tsitsipas was asked his reaction to Kyrgios’ provisional cocaine suspension.
Tsitsipas, who has feuded with Kyrgios on court in the past, candidly said he knew the suspension was coming and “expected” Kyrgios would fail a doping test.
“I mean, to be entirely honest with you, I knew about this before the announcement. Myself, I knew about it,” Tsitsipas said. “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.”
On August 19th, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced Kyrgios has been provisionally suspended since August 4th after testing positive for cocaine at the ATP grass-court tournament in Mallorca. Kyrgios submitted a urine sample on June 22nd. On July 17th, a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratory confirmed the presence of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.
“Cocaine is a stimulant and substance of abuse on the WADA Prohibited List and is banned in competition under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme,” the ITIA said in a statement. “If taken out of competition, reduced sanctions apply for substances of abuse.
“Because of the nature of the substance, a provisional suspension is mandatory and has been in place since August 4, 2026.”
Read the ITIA’s full statement on Kyrgios’ case here.
The mercurial Kyrgios shared he tested positive for cocaine following a failed drug test in Spain in a social media post.
“I wanted you to hear this from me first. I recently failed a drug test in Mallorca after testing positive for cocaine,” Kyrgios said in a statement posted to his Instagram page.
“I made a huge mistake and I take full responsibility for it.”
World No. 53 Tsitsipas suggested Kyrgios’ partying off court was known to his peers on the ATP Tour therefore it was not a surprise to the Greek when the former Wimbledon finalist failed a drug test.
“I knew that those were things that were happening away from the tennis courts. I will tell
you that,” Tsitsipas said. “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 behaviors 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.”
The bitter rivalry between Tsitsipas and Kyrgios erupted at the 2022 Wimbledon where the pair traded shots on and off court.
That year, Kyrgios came within two sets of winning Wimbledon after taking the first set from Novak Djokovic in the final.
It was a wild ride to the Wimbledon final for the mercurial Kyrgios, who spit toward a taunting fan after edging British wild card Paul Jubb in the first round. Then, Kyrgios incurred a code violation warning for dropping repeated F-bombs during his upset of fourth-seeded Tsitsipas, driving the Greek into such a rage he kept trying to drill his antagonist and eventually succeeded.
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