The charges against Nick Philippoussis, the father of Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis, who had been accused for child rape have been dropped, a California judge ruled.

The Australian tennis coach has been deemed “completely incapacitated” after suffering a massive stroke in jail that nearly cost him his life.

Nick Philippoussis, 68, was facing life imprisonment having been accused of repeatedly raping two nine-year-old girls he trained in San Diego.

Last year the court hard ruled a $US9.2m ($A12.7m) bail following his arrest which he had been unable to present until he suffered the stroke in November 2017.

“The doctor essentially said he is a step above a vegetative state,” the deputy district attorney Garret Wong said after Wednesday’s hearing in San Diego.

“He can stay in this condition indefinitely, but he did not have a very optimistic prognosis for his survival. The doctor was pretty clear he did not anticipate Mr Philippoussis making any meaningful recovery,” Mr Wong said explaining that the accused has been bedridden since, unable to communicate and being fed via a tube.

“At this point just given the fact he is completely incapacitated and incompetent, we didn’t want this hanging over the head of the victims. So that was our reason to dismiss the case today.”

Philippoussis’ lawyer Ryan Tegnelia had initially asked for the case to be dismissed six months ago but Judge Daniel Goldstein agreed with prosecutors’ request to wait until Wednesday’s hearing to make a decision. Mark Philippoussis and his family were happy to have the charges dismissed, The Guardian reported

“They are glad there is some sense of closure and now he can just move on with his final days instead of the court process hanging over him,” Tegnelia said.

Prosecutors could refile the charges if Philippoussis “somehow miraculously comes out of this coma and is competent”.