Wimbledon finalist suspended from tennis after cocaine found in Mallorca drug test

A doping check taken during a grass-court event in Mallorca in June came back positive for cocaine for the tennis star. Nick Kyrgios says he takes full responsibility, and now faces a tennis suspension that could run for months or years.

The sample was taken just weeks before Wimbledon

Kyrgios’s sample was collected on June 22 during the Mallorca Championships, an ATP 250 tournament played on the grass courts of the Mallorca Country Club in Santa Ponça. It is the only grass-court event in southern Europe and one of the last warm-ups before Wimbledon. A WADA-accredited laboratory (World Anti-Doping Agency) confirmed on July 17 that the sample contained benzoylecgonine, the substance the body produces when it breaks down cocaine. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which runs anti-doping testing across the sport, imposed a mandatory provisional suspension from August 4, barring Kyrgios from playing, coaching or attending any event run by the ATP, WTA, the Grand Slams or a national tennis association.

‘I made a huge mistake,’ Kyrgios tells fans

The 31-year-old Australian broke the news himself on Instagram rather than waiting for an official statement, writing: “I recently failed a drug test in Mallorca after testing positive for cocaine. I made a huge mistake and I take full responsibility for it.” He apologised to his family, sponsors and fans, saying he was especially sorry to the children who follow his career, and described the result as a wake-up call. He also announced he would step back from social media and public life for 28 days.

Injuries, a fading career and a past he says doesn’t excuse it

Kyrgios said the positive test followed years of physical setbacks and difficulty accepting that his playing career is winding down. He referred to ongoing knee and wrist injuries and said he had struggled with depression, self-harm and substance abuse in the past, while stressing that none of it “excuses what I did.”

Once ranked as high as world number 13 and a Wimbledon singles finalist in 2022, Kyrgios has barely played this year, appearing in only four ATP singles matches. His last match, a first-round doubles defeat at Wimbledon on July 1, prompted him to say it would “probably” be his final appearance there. 

The Australian who once said dopers ‘should be gone’ 

The case carries an unfortunate piece of irony. In 2024, Kyrgios repeatedly criticised the sport’s handling of Jannik Sinner’s doping case, arguing that a finding of no fault which let the world number one keep playing was wrong, and saying at the time that Sinner “should be gone” from the tour.

Under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme, cocaine is treated as a substance of abuse, which can carry a lighter sanction than the standard ban if a player shows the use happened outside competition and completes an approved treatment programme. Even so, the ITIA says the possible penalty ranges from three months to four years, and Kyrgios’s case has yet to be decided. 

His Instagram statement gave no date for a return, saying only that he wanted to use the time away to focus on his recovery.