Tennis player Nick Kyrgios will seek to have an assault charge against him dismissed citing his mental health, Australian media reported on Tuesday.
Kyrgios' lawyer represented the sportsman in a Canberra court hearing, where the 27-year-old Australian player is charged with common assault.
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The Wimbledon finalist, whose presence was not required during this essentially administrative hearing, is currently in Japan, where he is taking part in the Tokyo tournament.
His lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith has requested a postponement to allow for an assessment of Nick Kyrgios' mental health, according to multiple media outlets including public broadcaster ABC and the Sydney Morning Herald.
Mr Kukulies-Smith said his client's mental health issues were known and he would seek a dismissal at a later date, according to media reports.
The next hearing is scheduled for February 3.
Kyrgios claims to have had 'suicidal thoughts'
Earlier this year, Nick Kyrgios claimed to have suffered from depression for a long time, and to have had "
suicidal thoughts
", in a long message on social networks accompanied by a photo of him taken in 2019 during the Open. Australia.
“
That was me three years ago.
Most people thought I was mentally fine and enjoying life (...).
it was one of the darkest times
,” Kyrgios wrote.
“
If you look closely, you can see that I was self-harming my right arm.
I had suicidal thoughts and literally had trouble getting out of bed let alone performing in front of millions of people
.
The assault case which earned him legal proceedings dates back to December 2021, but the details of the charge are still not known.
The world No.20, who is taking part in his first tournament in Tokyo since losing the US Open quarter-final last month, said on Monday that he had been dealing with the matter "
for months
" but that he took it “
from day to day
”.
"
There are only a few things I can control and I'm taking all necessary steps to deal with them off the court
," Kyrgios told reporters.
"
I'm here in Tokyo and I'm just trying to play good tennis, keep up the momentum and do my job
," said the Australian, one of the most polarizing figures on the circuit, who is playing his first match at the Japan this Tuesday against the Taiwanese Tseng Chun-hsin, 87th in the world.