Nick Kyrgios is clearly pissed after Jannik Sinner’s doping saga. After the World No. 1 tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid (clostebol) twice, and was subsequently let off by the ITIA after determining “a finding of No Fault or Negligence applied in the case, resulting in no period of ineligibility,” we heard the Aussie tennis star call the incident, “Ridiculous — whether it was accidental or planned“. He even claimed players who get failed twice should be “gone for 2 years“. 

And now, in the heat of the controversy, he has come up with some more “interesting information” on how Italy has been in the midst of ‘clostebol abuse’ over the past few decades, if not more. The player issued an X post tagging former player Andy Roddick, sharing an article that reported the alleged use of clostebol in Italian tennis, Olympics, and football.

Later, he also tagged a die-hard Novak Djokovic fan and wrote, “@pavyg some really interesting information about how quickly this is in and out of your system. ‘Billionth of a gram’ all this bs – you have professionals saying that gels and creams are a good way to dope lol.” Notably, Kyrgios and Roddick have been at loggerheads over the controversy. After the former No. 11 had called for Sinner’s ban, and his tweet was flagged as misinformation—through the ‘Readers added context’ section—Roddick had taken a subtle dig at the player, writing, “I love community notes”. 

We know Roddick had once called Sinner a “gentleman on the court” and lauded him for handling the doping case so efficiently. However, at that time the Nole fan (Pavvy G) wasn’t too pleased with the American’s statement. He even went on to call Roddick a “coward“.

There was always something cooking in between two sets of people with different opinions. According to the shared article, an anabolic steroid that once was given to East and West German athletes has yet again resurfaced in elite Italian sport. According to an investigation conducted by Honest Sport, it is now being used similarly to testosterone creams. The post states that once the former German Olympic athlete, Birgit Dressel claimed, “They are all harmless drugs. All athletes take them. It’s really nothing special.” It reveals how the Italian soccer star, Fabio Lucioni, once also tested positive for Clostebol.

Reportedly, several other Italian athletes have also tested positive for the banned substance in the past. According to WADA, “Half of the world’s Clostebol cases come from Italy.” It’s reported that in Italy it’s commonly sold in the form of a cream, ‘Trofodermon’. This cream is applied to the skin to treat burns, abrasions, lesions, and infected wounds. Now, we all heard the reports claiming Jannik Sinner’s physiotherapist, Naldi, used a similar healing spray to treat his injured finger before giving a massage to Sinner. Contamination is suspected to have spread from there, deeming Sinner innocent.

However, the part Kyrgios pointed out was how performance-enhancing drug expert Victor Conte stated, “A player can go home or to the hotel after a game, use a testosterone cream, gel or patch, and it will be undetectable by the time he goes to the ballpark the next day. I think these guys are using testosterone every single day of the week.”

Even the former head of the Portugues anti-doping agency, Luis Horta shared a concerning fact stating, “I think there are some doctors involved in doping strategies that are using this strategy to avoid detection or to have a low risk to be detected.” This has now started to raise eyebrows in the tennis world, but what did Djokovic say about Sinner’s doping saga?

Novak Djokovic speaks up for the first time on Jannik Sinner’s doping controversy

After hearing Sinner’s case, Novak Djokovic has called out for “clear protocols” and “standardized approaches” for these types of cases in the racquet sport. He said that he completely understands the frustration of the players because of a “lack of consistency“. The recent Olympic gold winner felt there are a lot of issues in the system. However, he still exuded hope that higher authorities can take a valuable lesson from this case and address this issue in a better manner in the near future.

“Hopefully, the governing bodies of our sport will be able to learn from this case and have a better approach for the future. I think collectively there has to be a change,” said Djokovic in a recent interview. Sinner’s case has also amped up conversations about how top players are treated differently than low-ranked players. British player Tara Moore, who’s currently ranked 534, was suspended in June 2022 for banned substances, and was only able to get the ruling reversed 19 months later.  

Talking about the same, but without naming anyone, Djokovic stated, “Many players – without naming any of them [as] I’m sure you know already who – have had similar or pretty much the same cases, where they haven’t had the same outcome. Now the question is whether it is a case of the funds, whether a player can afford to pay a significant amount of money for a law firm that would then more efficiently represent his or her case. I don’t know. Is that the case or not? That’s something really I feel like we have to collectively investigate more, to look into the system.” 

Even Jannik Sinner‘s coach, Darren Cahill claimed that things become a bit easier to handle when a player is highly ranked, as they can afford to fight the cases properly. Now, with the 24-time Grand Slam saying the same, do you think it’s the right time for the higher authorities to look into this issue seriously?