Nick Kyrgios recently expressed his frustration with the state of tennis, seemingly in response to the doping news surrounding fellow Australian player Max Purcell. The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up stated that tennis is “in the mud at the moment,” following the announcement by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) that Purcell has received a provisional suspension for an anti-doping violation just days before the start of the new season.
Purcell, who won the US Open doubles title this year and is currently ranked No. 12 in doubles and No. 105 in singles, voluntarily reported to the ITIA that he had received a vitamin infusion exceeding the allowed limit of 100ml.
While Kyrgios did not mention Purcell by name, his social media post clearly referenced the situation. “Gee wiz, our sport is in the mud at the moment,” the 29-year-old wrote on X.
In his defense, Purcell claimed that the violation stemmed from the negligence of the clinic he visited. He stated that he explicitly informed the clinic of the WADA regulations regarding vitamin infusions and believed they would adhere to those limits. After discovering that the infusion exceeded the permitted amount, he proactively contacted the ITIA and accepted a provisional suspension that took effect on December 12.
“Until last week, when I received medical records from the clinic showing that the amount of IV I had received was above 100ml, I was fully convinced that I had done everything to ensure I followed WADA regulations,” Purcell wrote on Instagram. “But the records show that the IV was over the 100ml limit, even though I told the clinic that I was a professional athlete and needed the IV to be under 100ml.”The 26-year-old expressed feeling “devastated” by the breach and its implications for his career.
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