Nick Kyrgios says he’d love to tell his side of the story after being summonsed to face a Canberra court over an assault allegation.
Instead the grand slam contender let his racquet do the talking after being instructed to bite his tongue, frustrating at least one London tabloid reporter at Wimbledon.
Kyrgios is required in the ACT Magistrates Court on August 2 to potentially face a common assault charge amid reports he grabbed his former girlfriend Chiara Passari in an incident before Christmas last year.
“Obviously, I have a lot of thoughts, a lot of things I want to say, kind of my side about it,” Kyrgios said after overcoming his off-court concerns to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time on Wednesday.
“Obviously, I’ve been advised by my lawyers that I’m unable to say anything at this time.
“Look, I understand everyone wants to kind of ask about it and all that, but I can’t give you too much on that right now.”
Former girlfriend Ajla Tomljanovic earlier on Wednesday said she’d never endured any domestic violence during her two-year relationship with Kyrgios.
Somewhat taken aback, Tomljanovic said she wasn’t aware of Kyrgios’s “past relationship and the allegations” when quizzed about her time with him between from 2015 to 2017.
“It’s been a while since our relationship ended,” the 29-year-old said following her disappointing 4-6 6-2 6-3 Wimbledon quarter-final loss to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina.
“Obviously, I’ve always kept my relationship very private. I would like to keep it like that.
“I’m definitely against domestic violence. I hope it gets resolved.
“But, yeah, I mean, I haven’t had that experience with him.”
Kyrgios said his looming court date didn’t overly affect him before beating unseeded Chilean Cristian Garin 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-5) but that he was obviously aware.
“I’m only human,” he said.
(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
“Obviously, I read about it and obviously everyone else was asking questions. It was hard.
“It was hard to kind of just focus on kind of the mission at hand. It was quarter-finals of Wimbledon today. I know deep down that’s what I was prepared for.
“It didn’t really affect my preparation at all. I knew I stayed true to myself and give my best performance today.”
His press conference performance, though, didn’t satisfy one reporter who continued to probe Kyrgios about his pending court appearance in Australia.
Asked about the timing of the summons – during Wimbledon – and if he would attend court as ordered, Kyrgios said: “Look, I understand you want me to give you the answers. I can’t. I can’t speak anymore on the issue.”
He also declined to answer whether or not he knew about the court date before his quarter-final – and maybe even before Wimbledon started last week.
“Do you want me to sound like a broken record?” Kyrgios said.
“I’d like an answer, if you can,” the reporter continued before the Wimbledon moderator cut off the conference when Kyrgios said “I can’t”.
“I think he’s explained, sorry, that he can’t answer anything on that.”
Chris Love
Roar Guru
I’m not a fan of NK’s antics on court and I’ve been critical of him in posts on this forum. But I can’t help but think the police have made an error in charging him at this time. We know of many cases where accusations have been made and police have charged high profile athletes with everything from hung juries, to dismissals, to clear cases of the ‘victims’ making stuff up out of spite (Semi Radradra anyone?). With that in mind, if they have this wrong and he’s innocent then the timing of this is really bad. The guy is in the middle of a career defining run at a grand slam. With form that suggests that if he has his mind on the job can take out the tittle. Anything short of that tittle will at least in part, be partially attributed to the extra mental anguish he had to endure, the loss of sleep etc in having to deal with this extra burden. Considering ACT police couldn’t have progressed this legal process until he got home. What benefit did they have in preferring charges in the middle of the tournament? Would it have hurt them or the case to hold off a week or until the day after he was knocked out which could have been a day or two? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Could it be that police think he’s guilty of something but don’t think they have enough to ensure a conviction? Hence by going ahead with it they get to ensure he’s punished at least in some way if it effects his championship run? Had I gotten wind of this on the quiet and knew they were waiting for him to be knocked out, or the tournament to be over, I’d be rooting for Nadal/Joker heavily. And I never root against Aussies. The fact they didn’t has me now firmly hoping he wins this title. Just in case he’s innocent.
Davico
Roar Pro
When are the media going to start holding their own accountable on this sort of stuff? Absolute gutter trash "journalism" and the grub who asked the question should never be given credentials again.