The tennis world always keeps fans on their toes—whether it’s edge-of-seat matches or heated controversies that spark endless debates. And now, the spotlight is firmly on Nick Kyrgios and Andy Roddick, who’ve found themselves embroiled in a war of words. The reason? The high-profile doping scandals, with none other than Iga Swiatek at the center of the storm. So what exactly happened between the two?

It was on November 28 when Swiatek’s doping case came into the picture through a statement issued by ITIA. It was found that Swiatek tested positive for low levels of Trimetazidine also known as TMZ, in an out-of-competition sample in August 2024 ahead of the Cincinnati Masters. However, it was ruled that the Polish star did not consume the substance intentionally and the positive tests were a result of one of her contaminated medications, melatonin. But while Swiatek was let go with the charges against her being dropped, it led to a huge controversy and left the tennis community split into two factions.

Joining the fray of supporters were the likes of Andy Roddick who quickly came to the defense of former world no. 1, sharing that he cannot consider unintentional consumption of contaminated drugs as melatonin. In one of the episodes of his Served with Roddick podcast, the former American player said, “I can’t call it doping. Taking melatonin when you’re jetlagged at 2:30 in Cincinnati… It was just unfortunate for her,” he said. Continuing further, he added, “It just doesn’t make sense because the headlines and the morons in our sport are saying ‘doping!’” However, Kyrgios had a different perspective on the entire scenario. 

The Australian star, who had been religiously bashing Jannik Sinner for his doping case that came to light after the Cincinnati Masters, shifted his attention to Swiatek. As soon as the case came to light, he took to X and commented, “OUR SPORT IS COOKED.” In another comment, he wrote, “The excuse that we can all use is that we didn’t know. Simply didn’t know. Professionals at the highest level of sport can now just say “we didn’t know.” But what began as a different perspectives, soon started to turn into a war of words with both Kyrgios and Roddick opposing each other vehemently across various platforms. 

A user took to X and highlighted the support that Roddick extended to Swiatek and previously Sinner, and expressed their disappointment. Kyrgios was soon to react to this and wrote, “It’s just sad at this point. The guy is like a messenger to try and sweep everything under the rug. Haha, he definitely took the side of corruption but I mean I’ve had a couple good days in a row.” Besides, when another user humorously questioned whether Roddick too used some drug during his playing days that made him sympathize with Swiatek and Sinner, Kyrgios responded, “Hahaha most likely.”  And now, there seems to be a retaliation from Roddick against the Aussie.

Speaking on his podcast earlier, he took jibes against the remarks of Kyrgios. “Our sport’s pretty f*****g great. That feels like a desperate grab for attention rather than having a moral set,” Roddick said earlier. Now, he seems to be taking up the battle a notch higher with more veiled attacks against him. In the December 10th episode of his podcast, Roddick took veiled jibes at Kyrgios and said, “Tennis is full of great citizens and you know, unfortunately, we give a lot of ink to the carnival barkers of our game. The ones who have opinions that mostly just benefit themselves when they say them. It’s like we are going to be pi**ed about our own failures by dragging on other people.” Now, as the controversy continues to simmer, it would be interesting to see how it unfolds going forward. But interestingly, while the feud might have intensified now, it witnessed some vehement exchanges even when Jannik Sinner’s case came to light. 

When Andy Roddick took an indirect jab at Nick Kyrgios

Jannik Sinner found himself in hot waters after his doping saga came to light. He tested positive twice for low levels of a metabolite of clostebol during Indian Wells. However, while he was ruled innocent by the ITIA, several people lashed out at him immensely and Nick Kyrgios was certainly one of them.

Commenting on the Italian dynamo, Kyrgios wrote, “Ridiculous – whether it was accidental or planned.” Continuing further, he slammed the star player indirectly and wrote, “You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance… you should be gone for 2 years. Your performance was enhanced. Massage cream…. Yeah nice.” But what followed was rather humorous, as the Community Note feature on X corrected the Australian star. It 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. This quickly drew a reaction from Roddick. 

Throwing a shade at Nick Kyrgios, Roddick took to his X account and wrote, “I love community notes.” Now, as the two have found themselves engulfed in heated exchanges, directly or indirectly, it would be interesting to see if the feud would come to an end anytime soon.