Former ATP player believes Novak Djokovic endorses Nick Kyrgios' statement about Jannik Sinner's doping case

Former ATP player Guido Monaco believes that Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic has endorsed Australia’s Nick Kyrgios’ criticism of Italy’s Jannik Sinner after accepting to play with him in the doubles category.

The former world number 13 has been highly critical of the reigning world number one after he narrowly managed to escape any ban despite testing positive for a banned substance on two occasions in March earlier this year. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), in a verdict, declared that they accepted the player’s counsel response where they claimed that the availability of a banned substance in the player’s sample was because of receiving cream for the treatment of an injury from one member of the coaching staff.

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That decision, however, did not go down well with Kyrgios who was extremely vocal about the development. The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up was of the opinion that the reigning world number one must receive similar punishment as received by other players who have been found guilty of similar offences.

Former ATP player Monaco has recently spoken to OA where he expressed his opinion about Kyrgios’ comments regarding the controversy. The 50-year-old was of the opinion that people should ‘ignore’ what the Australian tennis star has said in the past but believes that Djokovic has endorsed his statements by agreeing to team up with him to play in the doubles category event during the upcoming Brisbane International.

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“We have to ignore what Kyrgios says,” he said. “His statements were heard by Djokovic who, by deciding to have this relationship with him by playing doubles with him, corroborates Kyrgios’ point of view on Sinner: it’s like saying that he validates what Kyrgios thinks. This relationship that he continues to maintain after the statements of Kyrgios, who is a negative character for tennis, bothers me. I am for ignoring Kyrgios. If there has to be this match, Sinner will treat him like a normal opponent and we should do the same by ignoring a person who has always spat on tennis. Let’s treat him for what he is: a problematic guy who has done more harm than good to the world of tennis, let’s not give him the weight that he doesn’t have on such important issues, we have to talk less about him because otherwise, we are playing into his hands.”