Kyrgios doubles down, Djokovic admits 'frustration' as players 'kept in dark' over doping sagas

Novak Djokovic admits he has been left "really frustrated" by the lack of transparency over doping matters in tennis as the integrity of the sport remains under a spotlight.

And polarising Aussie player Nick Kyrgios has doubled down on his criticism of world No.1s Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek and the punishments imposed on them for doping.

Swiatek accepted and served a one-month ban as a result of her failed tests, while Jannik Sinner was allowed to continue playing after a successful appeal with the International Tennis Integrity Agency.

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Sinner's case is currently being investigated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport following an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

But the varied handling of the top-ranked stars cases and others across the competition has gained heavy criticism from several other players on the professional circuit.

Most recently, Australia's Max Purcell was whacked with a provisional suspension after breaching doping regulations. The handling of the case was labelled "a joke" by doubles partner Jordan Thompson.

Kyrgios has - in typical fashion - been outspoken on the topic and doubled down ahead of his return to the court at the Brisbane International.

"I just think that it's been handled horrifically in our sport," he said.

"Two world No.1s both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport.

"It's a horrible look."

Set to team up with Kyrgios at the Brisbane International in the doubles tournament, Djokovic admitted that the heat of the Australian's words are "not pleasant."

But the Serbian star did not deny that he had similar beliefs to Kyrgios.

"I mean, it's not pleasant [being targeted by Kyrgios], but at the same time, we live in a world where everybody has the right, particularly on social media, to express themselves," Djokovic said.

"Nick has been really vocal about things, and particularly, the doping with Jannik - and he has some fair points when it comes to the transparency and inconsistency with protocols and with case-to-case comparables.

"We had plenty of players who we've seen in the past, and also currently, who are under suspension for not even being tested on the banned substances, for missing the doping tests and whereabouts, and some players who are lower ranked waiting for their case to be resolved for over a year."

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Djokovic questioned why players continue to be "kept in the dark" about doping cases on the circuit, but remained confident that Sinner likely did not take banned substances intentionally.

"I'm not questioning whether [Sinner] took the banned substance intentionally or not," he said.

"I believe in a clean sport. I believe that the player will do everything possible to be playing fair.

"I've known Jannik since he was very young, so he doesn't strike me as somebody who would do such a thing.

"But I've been really frustrated, as most of the other players, to see that we were kept in the dark for five months since he was receiving that news.

"It's not a good image for, and not a good look for, our sport [with the high-profile cases]."

While his 2024 season did not go to plan as much as he hoped, Djokovic insists he is still hungry to "make more history."

"It's been an interesting year, in which my main focus and priority was to win a gold medal in the Olympics – and I've achieved that," Djokovic said.

"[But] overall, I've had, I guess, more losses and ups and downs than in the previous seasons.

"I'm planning to play a bit more tournaments than I played last season, so hopefully, also the level is going to go up, and as a consequence, I'll be able to hopefully win a few tournaments and get my ranking higher."