"I can only feel pity for Kyrgios"

Jose Morón - 19 Aug 2026 | 13:27
ATP Nick Kyrgios Jose Morón opinión

Today we can say that Kyrgios has squandered his talent and for whatever reasons he decided to take the wrong path in his career.

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Kyrgios and his case. Photo: Getty

The world of tennis received the news today that Nick Kyrgios had been provisionally suspended for testing positive for cocaine in the last tournament in Mallorca. We could say that it is not too surprising, given who Nick is, and perhaps what might be most surprising is that something similar hasn’t happened before, but Kyrgios has been on a crusade against players who “cheat” for the past two years, and everything he has said recently has blown up in his face.

You will not find here a text that attacks Nick. In fact, I try to empathize with him and his situation. After the news broke, some are trying to differentiate between what it means to test positive for a performance-enhancing substance and this, Kyrgios’s, taken as a recreational stimulant which, in general terms, does not enhance performance, but which WADA considers “stimulant,” and therefore it is prohibited. A banned substance is a banned substance, whether it gives you more of one thing or another. He has lied, he has been caught, and he must be punished. There is no more to it.

I applaud the fact that he has acknowledged it openly and has not tried to appeal to excuses or justifications, as we have seen on many occasions with cases similar to his. That says a lot about him and how he is handling the situation, but we cannot overlook that this harms tennis and tarnishes the image of the sport. A sport that I love and where I develop my profession. Kyrgios, for better or worse, was a representative figure a few years ago and was a Wimbledon finalist not long ago. This is certainly not something that adds up.

 

 

Kyrgios always said he would never dope

In December 2024, after the cases of Sinner and Swiatek came to light that same year, Kyrgios stated in an interview that “never, in my whole life, would I try to dope in tennis. I can break a racket or get emotional, but it’s nothing compared to cheating and taking substances to enhance performance.”

In addition to that, he added, “That two number 1s in the world have been caught for doping is repugnant for our sport. It gives a horrible image.” I suppose this is something that could also apply to himself, in this situation, since what has come to light today is not something that helps the image of tennis at all, and along with other things he will regret today, Nick must feel disappointed in having failed to live up to the values he represented in his day.

In February 2022, speaking about one of the darkest periods of his life, Kyrgios explained on Sky Sports that he began to “abuse alcohol and drugs. It got out of control. I was alone, depressed, and negative. I pushed away my family and friends.” With this, one can understand that this has not been an isolated episode and that Nick has embraced these harmful substances before in his life, suggesting he has needed and continues to need mental help.

I do not intend to be the one to judge him, because I should not be the one to do so, knowing that he is still the master of his life and that he must have had his reasons for reaching that extreme. He must face the consequences of having gone to a tournament in that state or having recently consumed. Considering that Mallorca was his third tournament played in the year, it shows a lack of foresight on his part. He did not need to risk that.

I can only feel pity for Kyrgios because he had a wonderful talent that, today we can say he has wasted. Each person decides what they want in their life and how they go about it. He took that path, and although he always claimed he could be number 1 or win Slams if he wanted to, those words today sound like a defense or a mental barrier imposed to protect himself from the ghosts he might have been struggling with throughout his life. Ghosts that ultimately led him down the wrong path. I hope the lessons that life has taught him will help him get out of there.
 

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, "Solo puedo sentir pena por Kyrgios"