Australian Open 2025: Defending champion Jannik Sinner refuses to respond to Nick Kyrgios’ doping attacks

Speaking for the first time since being called out by Nick Kyrgios, defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner has refused to respond to his rival over his failed drug tests.

Defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner has refused to respond to Nick Kyrgios’ continued attacks over his failed drug tests.

The world No.1 was speaking for the first time since Kyrgios took aim at what he perceives as lenient treatment of the Italian who tested positive twice for the banned steroid clostebol in March.

However, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted his argument that the steroid entered his system due to contamination from his physiotherapist and opted not to suspend him.

Kyrgios has been scathing about the ITIA decision but Sinner didn’t want to get into a tit-for-tat with the fiery Australian on the eve of his title defence at Melbourne Park.

“I haven’t done anything wrong. That’s why I’m still here,” Sinner said. “That’s why I’m still playing. I don’t want to respond on what Nick said or what other players say.

Defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner has refused to respond to Nick Kyrgios’ criticism, adamant that he has done nothing wrong. Picture: AFP

“I think the most important part is to have my people around me . . . they exactly know what happened. That’s it.”

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has subsequently appealed the ITIA decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with a verdict pending.

Sinner said on Friday he didn’t know when the hearing was taking place.

“I know exactly as much as you guys know. We are in a stage where we don’t know many, many things,” he said.

“Yeah, you think about this, of course. I would lie if I would tell you I forget. No, it’s not like this. It’s something that I have with me now, already for quite a long time.”

Kyrgios has been vocal in his criticism of Sinner and what he believes to be the lenient treatment he received over his failed drug tests. Picture: Michael Klein

Earlier Kyrgios had given Sinner another drive-by when he pointed out he had never “accidentally” put anything illegal into his body.

“Look, I don’t want to speak too much about it,” he said. “I think we’ve all been speaking about it and I feel like that’s the only thing tennis has been speaking about the last six months.

“But for me, I’ve been tested four times in the last couple months. I got tested in my home three days ago.

“So for me it hasn’t been a problem at all in my career. I’ve been on the tour now for 10-plus years. For me, I’m not worried at all ‘cause I know that I’m really, really on top of what’s going on in my team.

“I’m very confident in myself that I’m not going to be accidentally putting something in my system.”

Italy's Jannik Sinner is coming off the best year of his career. Picture: AFP

Sinner, 23, is coming off the best year of his career where he won two grand slams – the Australian Open and US Open – made the semi-finals of the French Open and quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

“Many things have changed, last year there were so many first times,” he said. “Not only first time winning grand slam, but also the year before first time of Davis Cup. Then after becoming world No.1, then winning also the year-end finals. There are not so many first times left in our sport.

“Obviously there are still two different grand slams that I’m still missing. I know exactly what to expect. We could have managed a couple of things slightly better, yes, of course. This is what we want to do better this year on but also mostly off the court.

“With 23 years old, you don’t know exactly what the right thing is to do sometimes. I think I learned from last year. We’re going to make it much, much better also this year, how to handle certain situations off the court. That’s it.”

Originally published as Australian Open 2025: Defending champion Jannik Sinner refuses to respond to Nick Kyrgios’ doping attacks