Nick Kyrgios Admits Positive Cocaine Test, Calls It a “Wake-Up Call”

Former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios has confirmed he failed a drug test after testing positive for cocaine, describing the episode as a turning point following two brutal years of injury setbacks.

The 31-year-old Australian, no stranger to controversy throughout his career, has been provisionally suspended from competition. Since his standout 2022 season — when he reached the Wimbledon final before losing to Novak Djokovic — Kyrgios has managed just 10 tour-level singles matches, winning only two of them.

He currently sits at No. 919 in the world rankings. The positive result came back in June, tied to a lower-tier grass-court tournament in Mallorca, Spain.

“I recently failed a drug test in Mallorca after testing positive for cocaine,” Kyrgios wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. “I made a huge mistake and take full responsibility for it.”

The news adds another difficult chapter to the story of a player known as much for his talent as for his off-court headlines — his most notable on-court moment in recent memory being an exhibition “Battle of the Sexes” victory over Aryna Sabalenka in Dubai this past December.

What Happens Next

Under anti-doping rules, Kyrgios could face a suspension of up to four years, although a reduced penalty is considered likely. Cocaine is prohibited as an in-competition substance, and sanctions tend to be less severe when use occurs outside of tournament play.

There’s precedent for a lighter outcome: British player Dan Evans received a one-year ban from the International Tennis Federation back in 2017 after a positive cocaine test at the Barcelona Open.

A Difficult Stretch

In his statement, Kyrgios opened up about the emotional weight of watching his career stall due to persistent injuries.

“At times I’ve felt helpless and alone. None of that excuses what I did,” he wrote, adding that the physical toll had been matched by a mental one. “My body hasn’t been able to do what my mind expects it to do.”

His 2026 season has produced just one win against three losses in singles. He did receive a wild card into the Wimbledon doubles draw last month, pairing with Alexander Bublik, though the duo fell in the first round.

The Case Details

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which is handling the prosecution, said Kyrgios’s sample was collected on June 22, with the positive result confirmed on July 17 — after he had already competed at Wimbledon. A mandatory provisional suspension took effect on August 4, and the ITIA confirmed Kyrgios has not appealed it.

Despite the setback, Kyrgios struck a note of resolve in his statement.

“However, the good news is that this has given me a wake up call,” he wrote, signaling he doesn’t view this as the end of his career. “For the next 28 days I’ll be stepping away from social media and public life while I focus on getting myself right.”

Looking Back at a Career in Decline

Kyrgios’s most recent title — the seventh of his career — came in Washington, D.C., just weeks after his Wimbledon final appearance in August 2022, when he defeated Yoshihito Nishioka. He followed that with a run to the US Open quarterfinals, where he was eliminated by Karen Khachanov.

The wheels began to come off after a knee injury sustained in Tokyo in October 2022. Kyrgios played only a single match over the following two years and was sidelined from Wimbledon 2023 by a wrist injury. His 2025 campaign was similarly grim: a first-round exit at the Australian Open followed by a decision to skip the tour’s next three Grand Slam events.