Kyrgios avoids conviction, regrets shoving ex-girlfriend

Nick Kyrgios has expressed his gratitude for the court decision that means he isn’t convicted for assaulting his ex-girlfriend – and that he regretted his actions.

Kyrgios had pleaded guilty to shoving over his ex-girlfriend in 2021, fronting the ACT Magistrates Court in Canberra yesterday 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.

Campbell said the publicity of the trial, the time that has elapsed since the incident, and the fact that it appeared to be a one-off incident, meant the case did not warrant a conviction.

The world No 20 was charged with a latenight incident from January 10, 2021 where he pushed over Chiara Passari following an argument outside her apartment in innercity Canberra suburb Kingston.

After his court appearance, Kyrgios released a statement on Instagram, saying he regretted his actions and was grateful for the court decision.

‘‘I was not in a good place when this happened, and I reacted to a difficult situation in a way I completely regret. I know it wasn’t OK and I’m sincerely sorry for the hurt I caused.’’

Kyrgios had uttered only a few worlds as he was swamped by reporters on his walk – on crutches because of a knee injury – to a car waiting for him outside court, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

‘‘Just recovery, get back on court,’’ he said when asked about his immediate plans.

Kyrgios was asked when he predicted he would appear on court next.

He appeared to respond by saying he would be playing the game Mario Tennis, a spinoff from the Mario Cart video game series.

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 f... alone’’ and to ‘‘just f...ing 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.