Nick Kyrgios cocaine use was dark secret of tennis world: Stefanos Tsitsipas

Stefanos Tsitsipas wasn’t at all surprised to hear that Nick Kyrgios was suspended earlier this month after testing positive for cocaine, and when the topic came up following Tsitsipas’ first-round win in Flushing Meadows, he had no interest in covering for Kyrgios.“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,” Tsitsipas said. Tsitsipas and Kyrgios have had a long-running feud dating back to Wimbledon in 2022 and Tsitsipas’ blunt response to a question about the suspension seemed to highlight the bad blood between them. Kyrgios announced on Aug.19 that he tested positive for cocaine in a post on social media and described it as “a huge mistake.” “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.“When I saw [the suspension], I was, like, well, pretty much expected, to be honest.I am surprised it came so late, though.”Tsitsipas spoke with reporters after he defeated Arthur Fils in a thrilling four-set showdown 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the second round of the U.S.

Open.The Greek will face Lloyd Harris, who knocked out Long Islander Jack Kennedy on Sunday, in the second round. Kyrgios’ positive drug test occurred after he provided a sample at an ATP 250 event in Mallorca, Spain, in late June and the positive test was confirmed on July 17 at a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory. A positive test for cocaine comes with a mandatory provisional suspension from tennis, which was put in place on Aug.

4. “I’m not going to make excuses, but I do want to give some con...