Nick Kyrgios's one-month cocaine ban ends after ITIA accepts out-of-competition use

Nick Kyrgios is free to play again after serving a one-month suspension for a positive cocaine test. The International Tennis Integrity Agency provisionally banned him on 4 August. The ban ran to 3 September. The agency accepted that he took the drug out of competition, after an independent scientist at a WADA-accredited lab reviewed the file, and cut the standard three-month sanction because he entered a treatment programme.

Kyrgios, 31, gave the sample at the ATP 250 Mallorca Championships on 22 June. The lab found benzoylecgonine, a cocaine metabolite. He told investigators he used cocaine at a nightclub in Magaluf in the early hours of 20 June. He lost his first-round match two days later to Adam Walton in straight sets. Under the rules, "in competition" for that event began when the singles draw started on 21 June. The nightclub dose sat on the out-of-competition side of that line, which is why the maximum was three months rather than four years.

What he loses

He forfeits the Mallorca prize money, €6,570 or about $7,650, and the ranking points from that week. His ranking has fallen to the 918-919 range. He has won one of four singles matches this year. The 2022 Wimbledon finalist has spent the last seasons dealing with knee and wrist injuries. In a statement issued when the case became public he called the dose a huge mistake, apologised to fans, family, sponsors and children who follow him, and said coming to terms with the end of a career had been harder than he expected. He also said he would leave social media for 28 days.

What the ruling is worth

The ITIA's acceptance of the timeline is the whole case. A finding of in-competition use would have taken years off the remainder of his playing life. The reduced month, backdated to 4 August, is the WADA path for a substance of abuse when the athlete enters treatment. That path exists so that a nightclub test does not receive the same tariff as a match-day dose. Kyrgios used that path. He is eligible now. Whether a body that has not held up through recent seasons can take a wild card is a separate question, and not one the integrity agency decides.