Assault charge against Nick Kyrgios dismissed after he admits shoving ex-girlfriend

The Australian tennis player issues public apology after pleading guilty to pushing ex-girlfriend Chiara Passari in Canberra in 2021

DISMISSED: Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios. Pic: Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP

Nick Kyrgios has had an assault charge dismissed by a magistrate after he pleaded guilty to shoving over his ex-girlfriend in 2021.

The tennis star fronted the ACT magistrates court on Friday where a bid to have the assault charge thrown out on mental health grounds was rejected.

But magistrate Beth Campbell threw out the charge, accepting the seriousness of the matter was “low-level” and indicating Kyrgios was not a risk of reoffending.

The world No 20 was charged with a late-night incident from 10 January 2021 where he pushed over his ex-girlfriend Chiara Passari following an argument outside her apartment in the inner-city Canberra suburb of Kingston.

The court heard Passari was standing in the door of an Uber preventing Kyrgios from leaving when he pushed her over.

He stood over her and remarked “seriously” while she lay on the ground.

Passari reported shoulder pain along with grazing on her knee.

Kyrgios had told Passari to “leave me the fuck alone” and to “just fucking piss off” while she asked him to get out of the car and to calm down.

Passari didn’t report the incident until 10 months later, when the couple split after getting back together following the incident.

Common assault carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail.

Kyrgios is recovering from anthroscopic surgery on his knee after injury forced him to withdraw from last month’s Australian Open.

The operation to clean up his lateral meniscus and remove a paralabral went well and his manager said this week they “couldn’t really have asked for a better result”.

Kyrgios later issued a public apology. In a written statement he said he was grateful to the court for dismissing the charge.

“I was not in a good place when this took place and I reacted to a difficult situation in a way I deeply regret. I know it wasn’t OK and I’m sincerely sorry for the hurt I caused,” he said.

“Mental health is tough. Life can seem overwhelming. But I’ve found that getting help and working on myself has helped me to feel better and to be better.”

Guardian