Nick Kyrgios has been one of the players most critical with Jannik Sinner and his doping case: the Italian, World No. 1 and recent Wimbledon champion, tested positive in Clostebol during Indian Wells Masters 1,000 last year, and was banned for three months, without missing any major tournament.
<social>https://x.com/NickKyrgios/status/1890708045954470229</social>
"Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist", Kyrgios said back in February, saying that "Sinner's team have done everything in their power to just go ahead and take a 3 month ban, no titles lost, no prize money lost".
This time, without elaborating much, the Australian player simply posted an asterisk on X (Twitter).
<social>https://x.com/NickKyrgios/status/1944473733672075661</social>
Everybody understood what he meant: he was questioning that Sinner's victory is not deserved as Sinner should have received a larger penalty. While nobody questions that Sinner played Wimbledon clean, many tennis players, not just Kyrgios, feel that Sinner should have got a longer ban and instead received a favourable treatment given his status or economic resources paying a legal team, as he only served a three month suspension, agreed between the player and the World Anti Doping Agency, conveniently between Grand Slams, so he would not lose many points in the ranking.
In his repost, some people side with Kyrgios, mocking Sinner as "Doper". Others, however, have responded comparing Sinner's states with those of Kyrgios, with one of them arguing that the asterisk means thar the only Grand Slam final he got, 2022 Wimbledon, was because Nadal gave a walkover in the semis.
<social>https://x.com/jony_sinner/status/1944470653827940645</social>
<social>https://x.com/raghavv_01/status/1944475437888876935</social>