Stefanos Tsitsipas said on Monday that he was not surprised that his old rival Nick Kyrgios tested positive for cocaine and was suspended.
"I kind of expected it, to be honest," the world number 53 from Greece said at the US Open after defeating French 10th seed Arthur Fils in four sets in the opening round.
The former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios has been provisionally suspended and last month admitted to making "a huge mistake" after failing a test for cocaine.
The 31-year-old Australian, who has hardly played singles tennis in recent years, apologised and said injuries had taken "a huge toll on me both physically and mentally".
After defeating Fils 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1, 6-4 in New York, Tsitsipas – who briefly played doubles with Kyrgios but has had a turbulent relationship with him – was asked about the positive drugs test.
"I'm not going to try and cover up someone that I know the truth for," the 28-year-old replied.
"I'll consider myself a nice person with everyone, but these were behaviors that I personally heard on the tour and heard other people in that same environment saying those sort of things to me.
"Again, when I saw it, I was, like: Well, pretty much expected, to be honest. I am surprised it came so late, though."
Boasting a big serve and booming ground strokes, Kyrgios has won seven singles titles on the ATP Tour and rose to a high of 13 in the world in 2016.
His finest performance was on the grass at Wimbledon in 2022, when he reached the championship match, losing in four sets to Novak Djokovic.
Despite his natural talents that is as good as it got, with a series of injuries taking their toll.
In January he admitted he would never be the player that he once was.