Just In: Nick Kyrgios’ Ex-Girlfriend Drops Bombshell on Cocaine Ban — “I Just Don’t Understand”
Nick Kyrgios‘ former girlfriend has weighed in after the outspoken Aussie was banned for one month over a positive drugs test. A sample he submitted during the Mallorca Open in June was found to contain benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine. It looked like Kyrgios would face a lengthy ban, but he was only suspended for a month after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted that he used cocaine outside of competition.
Kyrgios could have faced a maximum three-month ban, but it was reduced after he entered a treatment programme. It has since expired, meaning he is free to return to competitive tennis. However, the 31-year-old is now ranked 918th in the world, just four years after reaching the final at Wimbledon.
Ajla Tomljanovic, who dated Kyrgios between 2015 and 2017, was quizzed on his cocaine ban during a recent appearance on The Big T Podcast.
In response, she highlighted several inconsistencies between the Kyrgios case and other incidents involving certain players.
That’s a tough one. You know what comes to mind is players that have tested positive for the same substance,” said Tomljanovic.
“Dan Evans got one year, there’s a player from Australia, Omar Jasika, got two years. I just don’t understand, is this a new rule now? Can the case be that different?
“And you know what, if this is a new rule, great, but you’ve got to find a way to compensate the other players. You’re ruining careers in a way if that was just a bad call.
Brad Gilbert, meanwhile, agreed that Kyrgios got off lightly while calling out his previously firm stance on rival players who had submitted positive drug tests.
“What I’m shocked about is how quickly he was to judge other players and say when they got one month or when they got reduced, he would be prolific on Twitter and these people deserve four years,” said Gilbert.
“Dan Evans, a few years back in the prime of his career, this is a performance dehancing drug, it’s not exactly like steroids, he got one year. So to me he should have got one year, very inconsistent on what they’re doing.
It’s not exactly like he had a beautiful resume to be getting off so easily, so I’m giving a red card to the people who gave the sentence of one month.
“If Dan Evans got one year and it was the same kind of thing, a mistake, and they gave him one year, which made him have to go all the way back to zero in the rankings. You said that Aussie got two years, I’ll go somewhere in that range, 12 to 18 months.”
