Nick Kyrgios' ex-partner has her say on cocaine ban: "Is this a new rule now? Can the case be that different?"

Nick Kyrgios has been the talk of the town once more following his abrupt halt to doping suspension. The 31-year-old had tested positive for cocaine but only served a one-month suspension. The length of the ban has taken many aback and left them bemused, most certainly the Aussie's ex-partner Ajla Tomljanovic.

The signs did not look good for Kyrgios after the news broke that he had failed a specific drugs test following an opening round defeat against Adam Walton in the Mallorca Championships. He went on to play at Wimbledon alongside Alexander Bublik with them losing out at the first hurdle.

Since then, Kyrgios has not been seen on court, following a trend of a short-spell comeback culminated by months of nothing as he vanishes into thin air with another injury issue. This time, it seemed like the decision could be out of his hands with a suspension imminent.

To the surprise of many, it was only a month he would be barred, lowered from three months after he agreed to commit to a treatment programme that was subsequently approved by the ITIA. It was a welcoming sight to see that he is getting support, but the big ban reduction has been met with a mixture of opinions from the tennis world.

Once one of the most prominent relationships in tennis, Kyrgios and Tomljanovic were together between 2015 and 2017 with a number of incidents occurring during their time with one another.

The pair have since gone their separate ways with Tomljanovic currently sitting out the rest of the 2026 season as she looks to return in the next campaign fit and fresh ready for another campaign Down Under.

For the time being, she has entered the world of punditry and analysis, co-hosting The Big T Podcast. Inevitably, the news about her ex was always going to come up, and she took some time before coming up with an answer.

“That’s a tough one. You know what comes to mind is players that have tested positive for the same substance," the three-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist said. She specifically highlighted the inconsistencies between the Kyrgios case and other certain incidents.

“Dan Evans got one year, there’s a player from Australia, Omar Jasika, got two years. I just don’t understand, is this a new rule now? Can the case be that different? And you know what, if this is a new rule, great, but you’ve got to find a way to compensate the other players. You’re ruining careers in a way if that was just a bad call.”

Former World No.4 Brad Gilbert also had his say, agreeing that the sentence was very short while calling out the 2021 Wimbledon finalist for his past comments on other situations similar to his. This hypocritical stance has been well-documented by many with Karen Khachanov and Andy Roddick among the names calling him out.

“What I’m shocked about is how quickly he was to judge other players and say when they got one month or when they got reduced, he would be prolific on Twitter and these people deserve four years,” he commented.

Using the prior Evans case as a case study, the American stated how long Kyrgios really should have got. “Dan Evans, a few years back in the prime of his career, this is a performance dehancing drug, it’s not exactly like steroids, he got one year. So to me he should have got one year, very inconsistent on what they’re doing.

“It’s not exactly like he had a beautiful resume to be getting off so easily, so I’m giving a red card to the people who gave the sentence of one month…If Dan Evans got one year and it was the same kind of thing, a mistake, and they gave him one year, which made him have to go all the way back to zero in the rankings. You said that Aussie got two years, I’ll go somewhere in that range, 12-18 months.”

Kyrgios has since partaken his suspension and is free to return to the action. Ranked 918th in the world, he will be relying on wildcards to be getting into events with his prior approach of competing in doubles possibly one that tennis fans will see more of if he is going to continue participating.