Tennis player Nick Kyrgios will miss the 2023 French Open, also known as the Roland-Garros tournament, due to a foot injury he received in May when a man held his mother at gunpoint in order to steal the athlete’s Tesla, Kyrgios’s agent Daniel Horsfall announced Thursday.
On May 1, Kyrgios’ mother, Norlaila, reported to police that a man pointed a long gun at her, demanded the keys to the car, and then drove off in the tennis player’s Tesla. Norlaila called out to Kyrgios, who was nearby, as the man drove away. According to reports, the incident took place at a residence in Canberra, Australia, where police followed the stolen Tesla in a high-speed chase that ended in a school zone, and the suspect was arrested.
Nick Kyrgios out of French Open with injury after Tesla stolen while mom held at gunpoint: agent https://t.co/LSqheHn4MF pic.twitter.com/939l3ylM4G
— New York Post (@nypost) May 18, 2023
The 32-year-old-suspect was “denied bail after appearing in the Australian Capital Territory Magistrates Court on five charges relating to the incident, including aggravated robbery, driving a stolen vehicle, furious driving, and failing to stop for police,” ESPN reported.
Horsfall said Kyrgios hurt himself in the “high-adrenaline rush” of the incident.
“With all the stuff that was going on, Nick lacerated the side of his left foot,” Horsfall told Reuters. “We don’t know how. Basically, it’s just set him back about two-and-a-half weeks in terms of his loading schedule to get back on court for what we thought was going to be the Grand Slam.”
Horsfall told reporters that the wound is under the left side of the foot, under his pinkie toe, and that Kyrgios “couldn’t slide, couldn’t get on court because every time he put a shoe on it moved and it would re-open.”
In 2022, Australian native Kyrgios condemned his government for the “really bad” handling of Serbian champion Novak Djokovic’s visa cancellation, imploring Canberra to “do better.” Djokovic had declined to receive a coronavirus vaccine.
The French Open will take place May 21, 2023 – Jun 9, 2023.
Look I definitely believe in taking action, I got vaccinated because of others and for my mums health, but how we are handling Novak’s situation is bad, really bad. Like these memes, headlines, this is one of our great champions but at the end of the day, he is human. Do better.
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) January 7, 2022