Aussie ace has assault case request denied as fan sues him
Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios has been denied what has been described as an "indulgence" in his assault case, after his legal team requested a three-month court date delay amid claims that the tennis star does not spend much time in Australia's Capital Territory (ACT).
Magistrates in the ACT met for a hearing on Tuesday in relation to an alleged incident in Kyrgios' birthplace Canberra which sees him face a charge of allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend and a possible two years behind bars.
Kyrgios' lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith lodged a request with Magistrate Louise Taylor to adjourn the case until November 25 due to his time not aligning "with the availability of the courts" and the player spending "very little time in the ACT."
Furthermore, Kukulies-Smith will be "on leave all of December and the first part of January" and claimed that the application might be "capable of finalizing the matter" at the proposed meeting without going into specifics noting the journalists in attendance.
Shutting Kukulies-Smith down, Magistrate Taylor said she wasn't sure "what the case is for the secrecy" and called the proposed November date "an indulgence for you and your client."
"I am not going to list the matter on the basis of some application that might be made," she added.
Taylor threw out the request to "set aside time for some unknown reason" and noted that ordinary procedure sees the defendant asked "if there is a plea of guilty or not guilty."
This prompted Kyrgios' legal representative to ask for a six-week adjournment which was then granted until October, although the tennis star faces further legal trouble elsewhere.
Also on Tuesday, it was confirmed that a tennis fan who Kyrgios had temporarily thrown out of the Wimbledon final he lost against Novak Djokovic, and whom he accused of having "700 drinks," plans to sue him for defaming her through "a reckless and entirely baseless allegation".
"Not only did this cause considerable harm on the day, resulting in my temporary removal from the arena, but Mr. Kyrgios’s false allegation was broadcast to, and read by, millions around the world, causing me and my family very substantial damage and distress," a statement from Anna Palus said.
Vowing to donate any damages won to charity, Palus has instructed Brett Wilson LLP to initiate legal proceedings against Kyrgios should he fail to offer a "prompt resolution to this matter."
In the third set of Kyrgios' first Grand Slam final, Kyrgios protested that crowd noise had thrown him off balance against all-time great Djokovic.
"We’re in a Wimbledon final. It’s nearly cost me the game," he complained, before being told by the umpire that it was impossible for him to determine which party was responsible for the noise.
"I know exactly which one it is. It’s the one who's had like 700 drinks, bro," Krygios answered.
While Polish lawyer Palus, who was at the match with her mother, was first escorted from the stands at SW19, she was later allowed back to her seat.
"He always says the crowd is against him, and I wanted to show we were [cheering] for him, I wanted to encourage him," she later claimed to The Sun, though she did admit that she maybe "took it too far".
"But I only had good intentions," Palus further claimed. "I only had one Pimm’s and one rose. It’s the temperature for me, I had no hat. I’m really sorry," she insisted.
Currently contesting the hard court season in the United States, Kyrgios will play the US Open at Flushing Meadows in New York from August 29 onwards, where Russian world number one Daniil Medvedev is the defending champion.
In recent weeks, Kyrgios beat Medvedev in the last 32 at the Montreal Masters, after which the Moscow native was heckled by a fan, and also clinched the Citi Open in Washington DC.
