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Kyrgios can play at SW19 after avoiding assault conviction

By MIKE DICKSON

NICK KYRGIOS will be free to return to Wimbledon this summer after avoiding a conviction yesterday for shoving a former girlfriend to the ground.

The Australian, who pleaded guilty to the assault, can now focus on recovering from knee surgery and intends to be back playing next month on the American hard courts. kyrgios, 27, will return with another controversy to his name, though, despite a Canberra magistrate opting not to take further action over the incident which came to light last summer.

A bid to have kyrgios’s charge, laid by his former partner Chiara Passari, thrown out on mental health grounds was rejected, but magistrate Jane Campbell ruled the offence was ‘low level’ and that he was not at risk of re-offending. Under Australian law it means he will not have anything on his record going forward.

The incident took place in 2021 after a heated argument between the pair which led to an altercation as kyrgios tried to leave in a taxi. The magistrate ruled it was a ‘single act of stupidity’ by someone trying to get out of a tense situation. Passari said she had been left traumatised and suffered shoulder pain as a result. kyrgios said: ‘I’m grateful to the court for dismissing the charges without conviction. I was not in a good place when this happened 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. Mental health is tough. But getting help and working on myself has allowed me to feel better.’ kyrgios’s court appearance added to an uncomfortable week for men’s tennis, which on Tuesday announced that an investigation into domestic violence claims against Alexander Zverev would not result in disciplinary action.

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