Nick Kyrgios Returns to Tennis After One-Month Cocaine Ban

Nick Kyrgios is free to return to professional tennis after accepting a one‑month suspension for a positive cocaine test and agreeing to undergo a treatment program.

The 31-year-old Australian had been provisionally suspended since August 4. With that period now served, his ban officially expired on Thursday, a timeline confirmed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Friday morning.

The case stems from an ATP Tour event in Mallorca in June, where Kyrgios tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine. He told ITIA investigators he had taken the drug on a night out before the tournament began, not during competition.

ITIA officials consulted World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) scientists, who concluded the level detected in his system was consistent with his account of recreational use before play started. On that basis, the integrity body accepted that the offence occurred out of competition, opening the door to a reduced sanction.

Under WADA rules, the default suspension for this type of violation is three months. That can be cut to one month if the player commits to a recognised treatment program, a condition Kyrgios has accepted. Failure to complete that program could see the ban reinstated.

“I made a huge mistake and I take full responsibility for it,” he wrote. “My body hasn’t been able to do what my mind expects it to do... Coming to terms with being near the end of my career has been harder than I ever imagined.”

The reaction inside the locker room was cold. Kyrgios, long outspoken about doping cases involving others, found little sympathy from his peers.

Former world No.1 Simona Halep publicly took aim at him after the story broke. At the US Open this week, Stefanos Tsitsipas went further, suggesting Kyrgios’ drug use was widely known among people on tour. Tsitsipas and Karen Khachanov both said they could not feel sorry for their former rival.

Kyrgios once looked set for a very different kind of headline. He climbed to a career-high ranking of No.13 and reached the Wimbledon final in 2022, pushing Novak Djokovic before falling short on Centre Court.

Since then, injuries have stripped away his momentum and his presence on tour. He has slipped to No.918 in the rankings and, for now, no longer shapes the sharp end of the men’s game.

Now he returns with a shortened ban, a mandated treatment plan, and a career edging towards its closing chapters. How much fight he has left for one more act is the question that hangs over his comeback.