Rafael Nadal has confirmed he is ready to make his return to competitive play at the 2015 season-opening Mubadala World Tennis Championship in January.
It will mark the Spaniard’s first match since he played in Basel, his last tournament of the year. With the official tournament draw for the tournament still to be announced, Nadal’s first match could be against any one of Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Andy Murray or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Speaking during one of his training sessions after surgery, Nadal said: “It’s unfortunate that I had to miss the end of this season, but the time off will allow me to become even more focused on what I want to accomplish in 2015. I have missed a couple of opportunities to play big competitive matches now so playing in Abu Dhabi in January for me is really important.”
This year marks Nadal’s sixth tournament appearance in Abu Dhabi, having won the Championship twice, both in 2009 and 2011.
He added: “I’ve got history here which makes the event even more special to me. The crowd is always full of energy which makes us want to play even better, and with this type of competition format we have to be on our game the entire three days. I hope the crowds will be in for some great action on court.”
Prior to his injury 2014 proved an historic year for Nadal who captured his ninth Roland Garros title in the past 10 years with a four-set final win over Novak Djokovic.
He became the first player in tennis history to win at least one Grand Slam a year for 10 straight years and now holds 14 Grand Slam titles, tied with Pete Sampras at number two on the all-time leader board.
