Tennis Star Claims Jannik Sinner's Wimbledon Victory Has 'Asterisk'
Jannik Sinner continued an incredible year of tennis with his first Wimbledon victory on Sunday. Sinner defeated Carlos Alcaraz to win his third major title and second of the year.
The win comes after Alcaraz defeated Sinner in an incredible marathon French Open final, the longest in the event's history. Sinner has been the World No. 1 for a little over one calendar year, but one controversial tennis star says his victory has a dark mark.
After Sinner defeated Alcaraz in London on Sunday, Nick Kyrgios posted an asterisk on social media.
His message was a reference to Sinner's positive drug test earlier this year, a result that gave him a three-month doping ban. Sinner's win is his first at a major tournament since serving that ban.
Living in my dream ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Thank you!!! ???????? @Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/CHINH6DyAU
— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) July 13, 2025
*
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) July 13, 2025
According to Sport Bible, “the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) found Sinner was inadvertently contaminated with the banned substance clostebol by his physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi during a massage" in March of 2024.
The New York Times also reported that Sinner "twice tested positive for clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid, in March" of 2024.
The NYT noted that the ITIA absolved Sinner of any culpability for those positive tests, but the controversy persisted.
The BBC reported that Sinner accepted the three-month ban as part of a "controversial agreement" between his "legal team and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) officials."
Critics of the agreement and the ban have said that Sinner is receiving favorable treatment, and that some players are "questioning their faith in clean sport" after the relatively inconsequential ruling.
Sinner's ban did not keep him from participating in any major events, and if he had beaten Alcaraz in France he would still be on track to win all four Grand Slams this year.
Sinner and his team argued that the banned substance entered his body "through inadvertent contamination" during the massage, and the World Anti-Doping Agency accepted that explanation.
WADA originally sought a one to two-year ban for Sinner, but a combination of the agreement and the results previously put forth by the ITIA led to the three-month ban.
We'll see what Sinner can do for an encore in Queens at the US Open next month, but it's clear that Kyrgios and others will not accept him as a legitimate champion amid the continued controversy.