Tennis star Nicholas “Nick” Hilmy Kyrgios, 27, was born in Canberra, Australia to a Greek father and a Malay mother. Model Chiara Passari, 23, was born in Brisbane, Australia to Italian parents.

In 2020, Kyrgios became Passari’s boyfriend. On January 10, 2021, he tried to leave her during an argument outside her apartment in Kingston, Australia and called an Uber.

Passari stood in the way of Kyrgios, closing the front passenger door and the driver would not leave with the door open. Eventually, Kyrgios pushed Passari’s shoulders backward with open palms, which caused her to fall to the pavement.

Around the time of the assault, Kyrgios had suffered major depressive episodes and had used alcohol and drugs to cope, according to his psychologist Sam Borenstein. Depending on life circumstances, he is still vulnerable to recurrent episodes of depression, the psychologist said.

After Kyrgios and Passari ended their relationship in December 2021, he started dating Costeen Hatzi, 22, a style blogger based in Sydney, Australia. In the same month, Passari made a formal complaint against the tennis star, who was subsequently charged with common assault.

On February 3, 2023, Kyrgios appeared at Canberra Magistrates Court before Magistrate Beth Campbell. He pleaded guilty to assaulting Passari and asked for the assault charge to be removed under mental health grounds, which was rejected by the court.

Campbell heard Kyrgios’s guilty plea before dismissing the charge. The judge explained that the seriousness of the matter was low level so a conviction was not recorded.

The assault was not premeditated, Campbell pointed out. The judge also considered that fact that Kygios had no criminal record.