Nick Kyrgios called out Tennis Australia after the governing body of tennis in Australia decided to honor Jannik Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill, slamming their decision as “a joke” and calling on them to show “integrity.”

At the start of this week, the association announced that Darren Cahill was the recipient of this year’s Coaching Excellence award. Every year, Tennis Australia honors of one of Australian coaches who they think did the best work during the season. 

Since the Italian tennis star won two Grand Slam titles this year and the ATP Finals – posted a 73-6 record – and also finished the year as the world No. 1, there was no doubt about which Australian coach had the most success this year. 

“Super coach. A world class coach, guiding Jannik Sinner to world No.1 and his first two Grand Slam titles,” Tennis Australia captioned their post.

Safe to say, Kyrgios wasn’t impressed with their selection at all, saying: “This is a joke right (laughing emoji) – have some class and integrity people.

This is a joke right 😂 – have some class and integrity people.

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) December 9, 2024

Anyone who has been following tennis for the past couple of months knows extremely well that the 2022 Wimbledon finalist has been the harshest critic of how the Sinner doping case was handled. Since the news came out in August, the 29-year-old has repeatedly stated that the world No. 1 should have and deserves to be sanctioned. 

Coach Cahill strongly defended Sinner after Kyrgios’ comments

After the ITIA provided a detailed explanation on how the Italian failed a doping test and why they accepted his explanation and ultimately determined that he “bore no fault or negligence” for what happened, the Australian tennis star didn’t like it a bit, instantly blasting it as “ridiculous” and saying that the reigning Australian Open and US Open champion should have been slapped with at least a two-year suspension. 

A couple of days after the Sinner doping news were made public and some started to question how the case was handled and even make double standard claims, the 59-year-old coach agreed to sit down with ESPN and address the matter. 

During the interview, Cahill said that it took them “five minutes” to figure out how a failed doping test happened as he insisted that they instantly knew it was the case of contamination from that infamous spray used by physio Giacomo Naldi. 

“With Jannik’s case, they knew exactly where it came from. Within five minutes, they knew this could be the only possible place that it came from. They were pretty quick to get to Sports Resolutions to get that temporary ban lifted,” the Australian coach said on ESPN. 

After making that clear, the 59-year-old highlighted that it was all “an unfortunate situation” and that Sinner would never try to cheat in any way. 

“We’re not looking for any sorrow or anything because we’re quite thankful that there is no ban attached. But I just want to stress that he’s a great kid, he’s incredibly professional, he’s maybe the most professional young man that I’ve ever had the chance to work with,” Cahill said.

“He would never, ever intentionally do anything, and he’s in a situation that’s incredibly unfortunate. And the truth came out exactly what happened – there’s no fault, no negligence – and, hopefully, he can get this behind him now and continue to play and get better.”

At the time, the Australian coach also insisted that the public would eventually accept that Sinner was absolutely at no fault for what happened and that it would not change the way people perceive him or tarnish his legacy. 

“I think everybody’s entitled to their opinion. I know this is a highly sensitive issue for everybody: all coaches, all players, all fans. I think, over time, this won’t affect Jannik’s legacy in the game. I think people will understand that when you read through the entire (ITIA) statement, and what he went through and how they determined him to have no fault or no negligence, I think you’ll understand,” Cahill added at the time. 

Kyrgios doesn’t care about the explanations and he has zero empathy for Sinner 

After being informed about two failed doping tests in March, the 23-year-old acted quickly and avoided being provisionally suspended. However, he was still facing an ongoing doping investigation and didn’t know what would happen next.

In an interview with Esquire that was published over the weekend, Sinner said that after the doping situation happened, it became difficult for him to get closer to people. While some offered empathethic comments to that revelation, Kyrgios didn’t feel sorry for the Italian – not even a bit.

“Yes. You tested for steroids. Very hard to talk to other people who aren’t,” Kyrgios wrote as a response to Sinner’s admission.

Yes. You tested for steroids. Very hard to talk to other people who aren’t.

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) December 6, 2024