Australian player Nick Kyrgios, 31, has been provisionally suspended under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme after a positive test for cocaine at an ATP 250 event in Mallorca, Spain. The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced the case on 19 August, and said the provisional suspension has been in place since 4 August 2026. Because of the substance involved, the agency says a provisional suspension is mandatory, and it stays in force while the case proceeds.
Kyrgios gave the sample at the ATP 250 event in Mallorca on 22 June 2026, and a WADA-accredited laboratory confirmed the presence of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, on 17 July 2026, the ITIA says. Cocaine is a stimulant and a substance of abuse on the WADA Prohibited List, and it is banned in competition.
While the suspension is in force, Kyrgios cannot play in, coach at or attend any event run or sanctioned by the tours, the Grand Slams or national associations. He has a right of appeal and has not exercised it to date. The ITIA says support is available to him under the programme, as it is in all such cases.
He posted a statement the same day, accepting responsibility for the positive result. “I recently failed a drug test in Mallorca after testing positive for cocaine,” he said. “I made a huge mistake and I take full responsibility for it.” He apologised to his fans, his family, his sponsors and “the kids who follow me”, and said he was “deeply disappointed” in himself. He said he would step back from public life for 28 days, and described the failed test as a wake-up call. At times, he said, he has felt “helpless and alone”. The ABC carried the statement, and newsrooms in Australia and overseas reported it the same day.
The programme allows a reduced sanction for substances of abuse where an athlete can show the substance was taken out of competition. That question is where the case goes next, and the ITIA has not determined it. The suspension stays in place while the process runs.
The ITIA’s statement records a career-high singles ranking of 13 in October 2016. The ABC’s background notes seven ATP singles titles, the 2022 Australian Open doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis and the 2022 Wimbledon final. In July 2026 he lost in the first round of the Wimbledon men’s doubles, having said he expected it would be his last Wimbledon. He made his return to the tour at the French Open in May 2025, in doubles with Jordan Thompson. He has spoken publicly before about depression and about issues with alcohol and drugs, as the ABC reported.
Where the Case Now Sits
A provisional suspension is in force. The laboratory finding is on the record, and the right of appeal has not been used. Kyrgios has given his own account of the matter in his statement, and the outcome is not yet determined.
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Sources: International Tennis Integrity Agency, “Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios provisionally suspended under Anti-Doping Rules”, 19 August 2026; ABC News, “Nick Kyrgios reveals positive cocaine test, provisionally suspended”, 19 August 2026; BBC Sport, “Nick Kyrgios provisionally suspended from tennis after testing positive for cocaine”, 19 August 2026
Photo: Hameltion, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Nick Kyrgios serving at the 2022 Washington Open, where he played Frances Tiafoe. The International Tennis Integrity Agency provisionally suspended him in August 2026 after a positive test for a metabolite of cocaine; this photograph is from 2022 and not from the events in the report.
