Tsitsipas delivered the verdict late Monday in New York after a four-set upset of 10th seed Arthur Fils.

“Well, pretty much expected, to be honest. I am surprised it came so late, though,” the Greek told reporters, according to the Associated Press.

He went further when pressed on how much he had heard before the ban became public.

“I mean, to be entirely honest with you, I knew about this before the announcement,” Tsitsipas said.

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“I knew that those were things that were happening away from the tennis courts. I’m not going to try and cover up someone that I know the truth for.”

The sample in Mallorca

Kyrgios’s sample was collected on 22 June during an ATP 250 event in Mallorca, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirmed. A World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited laboratory reported the presence of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, on 17 July.

Because cocaine is classed as a substance of abuse on the WADA Prohibited List, a provisional suspension was mandatory and took effect on 4 August. The ban keeps Kyrgios out of any event organized or sanctioned by the Grand Slams, ATP, WTA, World Tennis or a national association, the US Open included.

He has the right to appeal the provisional suspension and has not done so.

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Kyrgios’s own account

The 31-year-old broke the news himself on the day the ITIA announced its decision.

“I wanted you to hear this from me first. I recently failed a drug test in Mallorca after testing positive for cocaine,” Kyrgios wrote on Instagram, according to Sky Sports.

“I made a huge mistake and I take full responsibility for it.”

How long a ban

The full sanction depends on when the cocaine was ingested. The World Anti-Doping Code sets a three-month ban for out-of-competition use of a substance of abuse, cut to one month if the player completes an approved treatment program. If it cannot be established that the use was out of competition, the maximum penalty rises to four years.

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Kyrgios, a Wimbledon finalist in 2022, reached a career-high world No. 13 in October 2016 and has struggled with injuries in recent seasons. The ITIA has yet to determine the length of the full sanction, and no appeal has been filed.

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