Kyrgios will cite mental health as defence in court

SYDNEY - Nick Kyrgios will seek to have an assault charge against him dismissed on mental health grounds, according to Australian media on Tuesday.

The tennis star's lawyer appeared for him at a hearing in the magistrates' court of the Australian Capital Territory, where he faced a charge of common assault involving a "domestic relationship" with a former girlfriend.

The 27-year-old Australian, who was not required to appear for the largely administrative hearing, was in Tokyo to take part in the Japan Open.

He won his first-round match against Chinese Taipei's Tseng Chun-hsin 6-3, 6-1 and told reporters there was "only so much I can say about" the court case.

"I'm here in Japan playing tennis, I'm not back home at the moment so what will be will be," he said.

Kyrgios' lawyer, Michael Kukulies-Smith, sought an adjournment to allow time for a mental health assessment to be carried out, according to media, including public broadcaster the ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Kukulies-Smith said his client's mental health issues were well known and he would seek to have the charge dismissed at a later date, the news outlets reported.

The Wimbledon finalist wrote about his previous mental health struggles in an Instagram post earlier in 2022, and has said that he battles depression.

"I felt as if I couldn't talk or trust anyone," he wrote alongside a photo of himself from 2019.

"I've been through those times when it seemed as if those positive energetic vibes were never ever going to be reality."

The world No. 20 was on Tuesday playing at his first tournament since losing in the quarter-finals of the US Open in September.

He said on Monday he had been dealing with the case "for months" and was taking it "day by day".

"There's only so much I can control and I'm taking all the steps and dealing with that off the court," he added. "I can only do what I can and I'm here in Tokyo and just trying to play some good tennis."

Kyrgios shot to fame at Wimbledon in 2014 at age 19, beating Rafael Nadal en route to the quarter-finals.

Although he struggled to fulfil his early promise, he has had a run of strong finishes in recent tournaments. He won the Australian Open men's doubles title in January, before losing the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic in July.

AFP, REUTERS