Nick Kyrgios pulls out from Estoril Open due to death of his grandfather

Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios has been forced to pull out from next week's Estoril Open due to the death of his grandfather. The Australian's grandfather died a couple of days ago after losing a battle with cancer. The rising player made a decision not to compete at the upcoming Portuguese event and instead attend the funeral of his late grandfather.

It wasn't easy for Kyrgios to quit the tournament

Nick Kyrgios, 22, was set to make his third consecutive appearance at the Estoril Open.

He lost in the final to France's Richard Gasquet in 2015 and ended his campaign last year in the semifinal after falling to eventual champion Nicolas Almagro.

Clearly disappointed, Kyrgios has expressed his desire to play once again in Estoril in the future, as early as next year. ''I just want to take this opportunity to let you all know, and especially the people of Estoril and Cascais know that I have unfortunately withdrawn from the Estoril Millenium Open to go back to Australia and attend my grandfather's funeral,'' the Australian announced.

''It's not secret that Estoril has been a very special stop for me on the ATP World Tour -- so the decision was a hard one. But my family is very important to me.

I feel I need to be around my loved ones at this time as well as pay my respects to my Papou (reffering to his grandfather) who I loved very much. I hope you can all understand and respect my decision. I hope to be back in Estoril in 2018.'I'd like to wish Joao (Zilhao, the tournament director) and the team the best of luck in running another world class event.''

Yet to play a match on clay

Nick Kyrgios hasn't played a match on clay so far during the 2017 tennis season.

The clay-court part of the season has kicked off earlier this month.

The world number 16 from Australia hasn't played tennis since the Davis Cup World Group tie between his nation and the United States. The tie was held in Brisbane from March 07-09.

It remains to be seen where will the 22-year-old open up his clay season.

The 2016 champion has arrived

Meanwhile, last year's Estoril Open champion Nicolas Almagro is preparing to potentially have another great run in Portugal.

The Spain's world number 57 was spotted while at practice on Friday.

31-year-old Almagro is set to make his third ever, and the third consecutive showing in Estoril. Apart from winning the title in 2016, he was a quarterfinalist the year before.