Nick Kyrgios has continued to be very vocal about Jannik Sinner since his doping case was announced last year.
Kyrgios made his official return to the ATP Tour last week at the Brisbane International, competing in both singles and doubles alongside Novak Djokovic.
While the Australian lost in the first round of singles to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Kyrgios did win a doubles match with Djokovic.
However, Kyrgios has mostly been in the headlines for his criticism of World No.1 Sinner, who failed two anti-doping tests last year.
Alexander Bublik ‘probably doesn’t agree’ with Nick Kyrgios
Sinner was found to have a small amount of the banned substance clostebol in his system in two separate tests back in March last year.
However, the Italian was allowed to continue playing after being cleared of any wrongdoing by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on the grounds of contamination.
The case is still not over though, as Sinner is currently facing an appeal from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) who are seeking a ban of between one and two years.
There have been a lot of opinions on this case, with Kyrgios claiming that he would turn a match with Sinner into an ‘absolute riot’.
Now former top 20 player Alexander Bublik has had his say when speaking to Match TV, suggesting that he does not back all of Kyrgios’ claims.
“If you take all of Nick’s words, analyze them and draw conclusions, you can go crazy,” said Bublik. “I probably don’t agree (with everything he has said).”
Alexander Bublik declares own doping scare
While Bublik has not gone into too much detail about the specifics of the Sinner doping case, the Kazakhstani revealed that he has had a situation of his own.
The 27-year-old shared a time when he missed two anti-doping tests within a year, and was one away from receiving a ban.
“Once I didn’t change the address of my house in Monaco to St. Petersburg, and people came to Monaco,” explained Bublik. “You can miss a doping control three times (in a year), and that’s how I got my first.
“I took it calmly – yes, I made a mistake. Then it happened that on April 20 I entered the tournament in Geneva, which started on May 25. I received a notification that I received a second (missed test), because I did not notify them (doping officers) about participation in the tournament in Geneva.
“On the application you have to state where you will play and I wasn’t sure I would play in Geneva even though I had applied. They equated it to a full-fledged doping control pass.”
Bublik continued, “If I had gotten another, I would have been disqualified. I think specifically I would have been disqualified to the fullest extent. I appealed the case in Geneva because we have not yet signed a contract with the tournament, I did not know if I would go and under what conditions.
“During the year I was in a serious panic attack because two absences are a lot. Another one is three years of disqualification and effectively the end of my career.”
American player Jenson Brooksby found himself in this situation back in October 2023, receiving an 18-month ban after missing three anti-doping tests within a 12 month spell.
The former World No.33 had this ban reduced from 18 to 10 months, and is set to return to action at the upcoming Australian Open.
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