Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios to contest assault charge against ex-girlfriend

Tennis star Nick Kyrgios was due to appear in an Australian court on Friday to apply to have an assault charge stemming from events two years ago dismissed on mental health groundsHis lawyer Michael KukuliesSmith appeared in a court in Kyrgios hometown of Canberra in October and asked for an adjournment so forensic mental health reports could be preparedMagistrate Glenn Theakston adjourned the case until Friday when lawyers for the 27yearold Australian are expected to apply to have the charge dismissed under a section of the local crimes lawKyrgios a Wimbledon finalist last year is set to appear in court in person for the first time since he was charged by police by summons in July last yearHis hearing was listed to start at 215 pm local time 0315 GMTThe law gives magistrates the power to dismiss a charge if they are satisfied an accused person is mentally impaired and if dealing with an allegation in such a way would benefit the community and the defendantThe common assault charge which has a potential maximum sentence of two years in prison relates to an incident in January 2021 that was reported to local police in December that yearThe charge reportedly relates to an incident involving his former girlfriendKukuliesSmith told the court his clients mental health history since 2015 made the application appropriate citing a number of public statements made by KyrgiosIn February last year Kyrgios opened up about his performance at the 2019 Australian Open saying what appeared to be a positive time in his life had been one of my darkest periodsI was lonely depressed negative abusing alcohol drugs pushed away family and friends he wrote on InstagramI felt as if I couldnt talk or trust anyone This was a result of not opening up and refusing to lean on my loved ones and simply just push myself little by little to be positiveKyrgios made further references to his mental health struggles during his runs to the final at Wimbledon and the quarterfinals at the US OpenAfter ending Daniil Medvedevs US Open title defense in September last year to reach the quarterfinals Kyrgios expressed pride at lifting himself out of some really tough situations mentally and some really scary places off the courtTheakston questioned whether Kyrgios would need to appear in court for Fridays hearing but KukuliesSmith said his client wanted to attendKyrgios had a career setback last month when he withdrew from the Australian Open because of an injured left knee that required arthroscopic surgeryHe was the runnerup to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year in singles and teamed with good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis to claim the mens doubles championship at the 2022 Australian OpenKyrgios was considered the host countrys strongest chance to win a title at Melbourne Park last month before he had to pull out of the tournament Djokovic went on to win the Australian Open singles championship for the 10th timeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever