Nick Kyrgios has announced his participation to the Estoril Open. The Aussie has not played many tournaments this year, he has infact only appeared at the Hopman Cup, played one match at the Kooyong Classic, and at the Australian Open in January, losing to Tomas Berdych. With clay being Nick Kyrgios' least favored surface, he will have to improve if he wants to become an all-around player and participating in events such as this will enhance his abilities on clay.
Despite not having much experience on this surface, the Aussie did manage to score an upset by beating Roger Federer in the round of 16 at the Madrid Masters, his biggest win to date.
Maiden ATP final
Nick Kyrgios made the final last year, his only final to date. In his opening round, Nick defeated clay-specialist Albert Ramos-Vinolas in three tough sets, before defeating Filip Krajinovic and Robin Haase in straight sets. The semifinal was a tricky one, he was playing Pablo Carreno Busta a player whose favorite surface was clay, and the Aussie teenager came through in the third set 6-3. Despite his best efforts in the final Nick fell to Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2.
During his time in Portugal, he developed as a crowd favorite and has also revealed that he enjoyed his time in Portugal, hence his reasons for coming back this year.
Announcement
The tournament Director John Zilhao said, "Just like in 2015, the first international name to be revealed is Nick Kyrgios, all efforts to assure the presence of the young Australian star in Portugal."
"Nick Kyrgios has one of the most spectacular styles in the circuit and revealed himself to be incredibly popular among the Portuguese crowd and even proved to be unsurpassable in the various promotion actions of the sport and the tournament during his stay on the municipality of Cascais. And, apparently, Also we liked the birthday party we held to want to spend his birthday with us again!"
Portuguese star Joao Sousa is the second player after Kyrgios announced his participation. The tournament that is set for late April, early May have set sights on bringing the top players to Portugal.
