Kyrgios out of Australian Open, faces please explain over no-helmet scooter ride
Tennis star Nick Kyrgios is out of the Australian Open due to injury and is also facing a please-explain from police and potential fines for riding an electric scooter while not wearing a helmet and with a passenger aboard.
Kyrgios’s withdrawal is due to a knee injury , with his long-time physio Will Maher saying the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up has a cyst growing on his meniscus.
While it’s not a career-threatening injury, Kyrgios is not sufficiently fit to contest his home grand slam.
“I’m obviously extremely disappointed,” Kyrgios said.
“Going in as one of the favourites, it’s brutal.”
He had been due to play Russian Roman Safiullan in the first round on Tuesday night.
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The 19th seed’s scratching is another hammer blow to the Melbourne Park major, which was already ravaged by superstar withdrawals and retirements.
Women’s titleholder Ash Barty, seven-times champion Serena Williams, her sister Venus, dual winner Naomi Osaka and retired legend Roger Federer are all missing in 2023.
Australia’s highest-ranked woman Ajla Tomljanovic also pulled out on Saturday with a knee injury.
Meanwhile, Kyrgios may have questions to answer over after being photographed on Elizabeth Street in central Melbourne on Sunday riding a Lime e-scooter with a female passenger clinging to him, neither of them wearing helmets.
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In Victoria, like Queensland, it is illegal to ride an electric scooter without a helmet or with a passenger on board.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has seen the photo and said the star would be spoken to by Melbourne highway patrol.
“It’s been reported to us. So because it’s been reported to us, we’ll reach out to Mr Kyrgios through Tennis Australia,” he told reporters on Monday.
“We don’t issue fines or anything like that without speaking to people to understand the circumstances and firstly identify that it is him.”
Kyrgios on Monday tweeted a reply to retired Australian basketballer Andrew Bogut branding Victoria a “nanny state”, writing “nah it’s too much now” followed by a series of laughing emojis.
Victoria’s year-long trial with e-scooter companies Lime and Neuron across three Melbourne councils was recently extended by two months.
E-scooter hospitalisations in Victoria jumped from 128 in 2020/21 to 427 in 2021/22, according to Monash University’s Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit.
Patton said police must investigate the 27-year-old over the photograph because it is a safety issue and he warned that offenders face fines.
“We’ve seen significant injuries in the city throughout this trial where people have hit their heads and the like,” he said.
“It’s a $231 fine for the rider of the scooter in this trial area (for not wearing a helmet) … or a passenger. And it’s a $185 fine for anyone who has a passenger on that scooter.”
