Nick Kyrgios has added his voice to the debate raging around supplements in tennis following Simona Halep’s ban.
The former women’s world number one was found guilty by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) of two intentional breaches of the anti-doping rules and Halep was handed a four year ban.
At last year’s US Open, Halep tested positive for roxadust, a prohibited substance, and was also found guilty of using an unspecified prohibited substance or method in 2022 - irregularities were discovered in her biological passport.
In a statement Halep said: “I am continuing to train and do everything in my power to clear my name of these false allegations.”
Maria Sakkari, the current world No.9, was asked if she trusted the doping authorities, and told the San Diego Open Press (via The Tennis Letter on Twitter/X): “One thing I can tell you for sure is the way they’re handling every situation with any player, any athlete, it’s just scary.
“We’re [going to] get to a point where we’re not even gonna be taking electrolytes.
“Thankfully, I haven’t been in that position. I never want to be. I’ve been very careful with everything that has to do with supplements. But I don’t know what the process is, how things are done behind closed doors. I don’t know who has a say. I have no idea. I would for sure improve the Whereabouts app, that’s the anti-doping app. It doesn’t work well. It’s supposed to remind you every day of your time slot and it doesn’t.
“They tried to improve it, but it’s not working very well. For us, we travel so much compared to other athletes. It’s just very stressful. I wake up almost every night to use the bathroom. If that’s close to my time slot, I’m just thinking ‘Do I go? Do I not go? Do I just wait if they come?’ It’s just very stressful.”
Kyrgios, who has often been a controversial figure, weighed his opinion in on the debate, replying to the Sakkari comments by suggesting he simply steered clear of any kinds of supplements - and challenged others to do likewise.
“Ehhh not really lol,” he wrote on Twitter/X. “I run on bananas and coke cola in 5 set battles. And my record in them speaks for itself.
“Maybe players should just stop taking shady s**t look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say yep I did it right. Not hard.”
