Nick Kyrgios Serves One-Month Ban After Cocaine Test, Cleared to Return Friday

Nick Kyrgios is clear to return to the ATP Tour on Friday, September 4, after serving a one-month doping suspension for cocaine use, according to the BBC.

The positive test traces back to a sample the 31-year-old Australian gave during the Mallorca Open in June. The International Tennis Integrity Agency found the sample contained benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, the BBC reported.

Kyrgios told ITIA investigators he used cocaine at a nightclub in Magaluf in the early hours of June 20, according to the BBC. He played his first-round match at the tournament two days later, on June 22, losing in straight sets to fellow Australian Adam Walton.

The ITIA consulted an independent expert and accepted that Kyrgios used the drug outside of competition, the BBC reported. Cocaine is classified as a stimulant and substance of abuse under the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list, meaning an in-competition positive test carries consequences even when the use itself happened away from the court.

He was provisionally suspended on August 4. Under ITIA rules he faced a baseline ban of up to three months, and potentially longer, according to Guardian Australia's live coverage. The penalty was reduced to one month after Kyrgios agreed to enter a treatment program.

His ban officially ended Thursday, September 3, the day this is being reported, clearing him to compete again starting Friday.

Kyrgios also forfeits the €6,570 (£5,650) in prize money he earned at Mallorca for his first-round finish, the BBC reported.

When the suspension was first announced, Kyrgios posted on Instagram that he would step back from social media for 28 days to "focus on getting myself right." He wrote that he made "a huge mistake" and took "full responsibility for it," according to Guardian Australia.

A Career Already Defined by Off-Court Trouble

This is not Kyrgios's first brush with controversy. He has drawn repeated fines for smashing racquets, cursing on court and arguing with umpires over the years, per the BBC.

In 2023 he admitted to assaulting an ex-girlfriend two years earlier, though he avoided a criminal conviction. He has also faced criticism for comments widely described as misogynistic, and for sharing a post from influencer Andrew Tate in 2024, a move he later said he tried to distance himself from "to all lengths."

Kyrgios previously blasted the ITIA's handling of doping cases involving Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, calling the process "disgusting" for tennis. Now he's the one who tested positive and drew a reduced sanction for cooperating with a treatment program. Whether that reduced sanction is fair is a legitimate question either way, but Kyrgios himself set a public standard for how doping cases should be judged, and his own case will inevitably be measured against it.

Some will argue a one-month ban is too lenient for any positive test on tennis's banned list, since it sends a message that cocaine use carries minimal sporting consequence. Others will point out, fairly, that cocaine offers no performance benefit and that ITIA's own rules distinguish out-of-competition recreational use from doping meant to gain an edge, which is why the treatment-program pathway exists in the first place. Both points are legitimate. The ITIA's own framework is built around that distinction, not around treating all positive tests identically.

On the tennis side, Kyrgios's competitive standing has cratered. He has fallen to 918th in the world rankings and played just four singles matches all season, hampered by knee and wrist injuries. His last competitive appearance came at Wimbledon in men's doubles with Alexander Bublik, where the pair lost in the first round.

He remains a two-time Grand Slam finalist in men's doubles play and reached the Wimbledon singles final in 2022, losing to Novak Djokovic in four sets. He won the 2022 Australian Open doubles title alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis and has seven ATP singles titles to his name.

What's unresolved now is whether Kyrgios, at 918 in the rankings and battling chronic injuries, has any realistic path back into regular tour competition, or whether Friday's return marks the start of a wind-down toward retirement he has already said he's grappling with emotionally.