Jannik Sinner‘s rise to fame has been nothing short of remarkable. His talent on the tennis courts has earned him a legion of fans, who have stood by him even as he found himself embroiled in a doping controversy. The Italian star, who recently secured a much-needed victory at the Cincinnati Open, now finds himself in the eye of a storm, with the tennis world split down the middle. On one side, Sinner’s supporters are rallying behind him, emphasizing his clean record and immense talent. On the other, skeptics are raising questions, and the debate is heating up. Among those joining the fray are none other than Nick Kyrgios and Andy Roddick.

The Italian dynamo found himself in hot waters on Tuesday. Even though the ITIA dropped the doping charges against him, Sinner is continuously facing backlash from the tennis community. Kyrgios expressed similar anger towards Sinner and demanded stringent actions against him. 

Taking to his X handle, Kyrgios wrote, “Ridiculous – whether it was accidental or planned.” Continuing further, he slammed the star player and indirectly questioned the ruling over the matter. “You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance… you should be gone for 2 years. Your performance was enhanced. Massage cream…. Yeah nice.”

Sinner tested positive for low levels of a metabolite of clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid during his campaign at the Indian Wells. He tested positive again eight days later in an out-of-competition sample. But the ITIA ruling revealed that the chemical entered his body as “a result of contamination from a support team member, who had been applying an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol to their own skin to treat a small wound.” 

Sinner’s physio, Giacomo Naldi, passed along the chemical to Sinner via “daily massages and sports therapy,” since he worked without gloves. However, as Kyrgios seemed to question the reports and anecdotes of the incident, the Community Note feature on X corrected the Australian star, as the note highlighted the perspective of Professor David Cowan, who reviewed the explanation given by Sinner and believed that even if the administration of the chemical was intentional, it would have had almost no impact on the performance of the Italian star. 

The former American player Andy Roddick was quite amused about the fact that Kyrgios was fact-checked by the community notes. Taking a jibe at Kyrgios, Roddick wrote, “I love community notes,” on X.

Roddick, who has always been vocal about Sinner’s immense talent and even placed him over Novak Djokovic as the best grass courter, seems to be failing to accept anything against him. However, this is not the first time when Kyrgios and Roddick engaged in a controversy surrounding young players.

When Andy Roddick slammed Nick Kyrgios for Casper Ruud

Ruud and Kyrgios have had a history of arguments on the tennis courts. Their anger against each other escalated so much that Ruud even called the Aussie an ‘idiot’. This relationship was strained to an extent that even after Ruud’s run to the runner-up trophy at the Monte Carlos Masters this year, his performance was slammed by Kyrgios. But Ruud found a supporter in Andy Roddick who statistically slammed the Australian player. 

Speaking on the Tennis Channel Live Podcast Roddick said, “The Kyrgios criticism is a little weird to me. Because Casper has made two more Grand Slam finals than Nick. I’m pretty sure Nick hasn’t won a Masters 1000 either.” Continuing further, he added “So what are we talking about like the finals of Washington, like his career High? Casper’s 2 in the world. Like I don’t know that he has that soapbox to stand on with that criticism.”

As Andy Roddick and Nick Kyrgios are having a go at each other once again, it would be interesting to see if the Sinner controversy escalates this tussle even further.