‘Players are doing the right thing’: Craig Tiley weighs in on doping drama

Australian Open boss Craig Tiley has backed the sport’s drug-testing regime as two of the world’s best players arrive in Melbourne on the back of recent doping controversies.

Tournament director Tiley declined to comment specifically on cases involving world No.1 Jannik Sinner and Polish champion Iga Swiatek, but said he believed players were doing the right thing.

Italian star Jannik Sinner is back in Melbourne to defend his Australian Open crown.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Swiatek served a one-month ban at the end of last year after testing positive to banned substance trimetazidine, while Sinner was cleared by the International Tennis Integrity Agency after twice testing positive to prohibited substance clostebol.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has appealed Sinner’s decision.

“One thing that we need to remember – the fact that we’re having these reports, and they’re public, is that we have a very strong testing team, an international agency, and that’s the right thing to be doing,” Tiley said in Melbourne on Saturday.

“As far as the specific cases [go], I won’t comment on those because there is a lot of stuff I don’t know about, but both of the No.1 players have been cleared.

“All I will say is that the regime, the testing regime, is rigorous and, and my experience around those players and all the other players is that they’re doing the right thing.”

Tiley said he was not concerned about the prospect of Sinner playing and winning the Melbourne grand slam event this month while the WADA appeal was still to be heard.

“It’s hard to look into the future,” Tiley said.

Nick Kyrgios and 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic have been less forgiving of the way officials have handled the Sinner and Swiatek cases.

Iga Swiatek served a month-doping suspension in 2024.Credit: Getty Images

“Two world No.1s both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport – it’s a horrible look,” Kyrgios said in Brisbane last week.

Sinner has maintained that his contamination came from his physiotherapist continuing to massage him while using a healing spray that contained clostebol to treat a cut.

It comes as prizemoney for the Australian Open is nudging close to $100 million for the first time.

Organisers bumped up the total pool available to players by more than 11 per cent year-on-year.

This year’s singles champions will receive $3.5 million and the runners-up close to $2 million. First-round singles losers this year will pocket $132,000.

‘No regrets’: AO boss wants Nick Kyrgios to consider the Davis Cup

Tennis Australia boss Craig Tiley wants Nick Kyrgios to return to the Davis Cup fold.

The Canberran last played the men’s team event in 2019 and while his career has been stifled by injury for two years, Kyrgios has said the feeling of not being embraced by Australia was the reason behind his Davis Cup unavailability.

Tiley stressed Krygios’ much-awaited return to tennis after a right wrist injury setback, which followed knee surgery, was a slow build, but he has put Davis Cup duties back on the agenda.

Nick Kyrgios playing Davis Cup for Australia in 2019.Credit: Getty Images

“We leave it to Lleyton to pick those teams, and have those discussions,” Tiley, who hasn’t spoken with Kyrgios about Davis Cup, told this masthead.

“[But] I’m a big believer in representing your country.

“I don’t want any player to ever regret not doing that because if they don’t do it, they will regret when they get older, and they get wiser and think ‘I wish I’d done that because that would have been so much fun’.”

Australia has a Davis Cup tie in Sweden immediately after the Australian Open. At the start of 2022 – the last year that Kyrgios played a large amount of tennis – Hewitt revealed that Kyrgios opted to attend a business meeting instead of returning to the Davis Cup side for Australia’s clash with Hungary in Sydney.

In the months after Australia lost the Davis Cup final to Canada that year, Kyrgios said negativity towards him was behind his attitude towards the Davis Cup. He said playing exhibition events instead was an “easy” decision.

“Maybe if Australia embraced me a little bit more, I would play it and bring home the trophy,” the 2022 Wimbledon finalist said. “But who knows?”

Hewitt and Australian leading men’s Alex de Minaur both revealed after the team had been beaten in Spain that they’d tried in vain to persuade Kyrgios to play.

Nick Kyrgios at the Brisbane International this week.Credit: Getty Images

In an interview in Saudi Arabia, where he was competing in an exhibition event, Kyrgios opened up about attitude to the Davis Cup.

“At this point of my career, I’ll always do what’s best for me,” Kyrgios said in December that year.

“I can travel around the world playing exhibitions around this time of year for six figures – you know I feel I put myself in that position – so it’s an easy one for me.

“Adding another week in Europe in Malaga wasn’t really what was on my wish list. If it was in Australia, maybe it would have been a different story.”

“I think if he can stay healthy it would be great to see him play all the grand slams, play Davis Cup for Australia and play other events in between throughout the year.”

Craig Tiley

Tiley is predicting Australia, a 28-times champion, will break its Davis Cup drought in the next two years after runners-up finishes in 2022 and 2023 and a heart-breaking semi-final loss to eventual champions Italy last year. Tiley said Australia had been the clear best nation over the past three years.

“[Had we got] to the final, I think we were going to be the better team,” Tiley said.

“Without putting too much pressure on the guys I think this year or next year we’ll get one [another Davis Cup trophy].”

Kyrgios has already cast his own doubts about getting to the startline for this month’s Australian Open. After his first ATP singles match in 18 months in Brisbane, Kyrgios said it would be a “miracle” for his surgically repaired wrist to hold up at Melbourne Park.

He was eliminated in the Brisbane International first round by rising French star Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard but also played two doubles matches with first-time partner Djokovic in a dream pairing for organisers.

After his singles comeback ended, Kyrgios revealed that his long-time personal physiotherapist Will Maher was treating him for up to four hours a day.

“It’s laughable, in the sense of how much my wrist needs now just to go out there and play a first round,” Kyrgios said.

Tiley however has tempered expectations about Kyrgios in the early stages of his comeback.

“I think he’s going to go through the summer building,” Tiley said.

“I don’t think he’s reached the end. I think he’s at the beginning of that journey. I think if he can stay healthy it would be great to see him play all the grand slams, play Davis Cup for Australia and play other events in between throughout the year.

“But he’s got to manage his health. He’s prone to injury.”

But Tiley was in no doubt about Krygios’ capabilities to compete with the world’s leading men’s players once he’s up and going.

“He’s going to be in every single match that he can play,” he said.

“It’s been unfortunate for Nick on the injury front. There’s a lot going for him as a player.

“With his height and his strength he’s able to power that serve into the court and win a lot of points on the serve. And then he’s good enough on the return where he can sneak a break here or there.”

Davis Cup captain Hewitt will soon need to name a squad for the tie in Stockholm starting on 31 January.

Australia last won the Davis Cup in 2003 with a star-studded team which included singles players Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis and Todd Woodbridge in the doubles.

In last year’s semis Thanasi Kokkinakis went down in a three-set singles thriller against Matteo Berrettini before world No.1 Jannik Sinner defeated de Minaur. Italy won 2-0 and Australia’s elite doubles combination of Matthew Edben and Jordan Thompson did not get the chance to take to the court.

“Honestly with Thanasi it was a couple of points [here or there] with Berrettini,” Tiley lamented.

“[We were] a couple of points away with getting to the doubles, [and] we were the better team in the doubles.

“[Had we got] to the final, I think we were going to be the better team in my view.”

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