Former world Number One Rafael Nadal who was out of the professional tennis circuit for the last 6 months has confirmed that he will play at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi. The tournament is an exhibition tournament to be commenced on December 28. Nadal has already started practice almost a month back after six months of rest due to a knee injury.

Nadal, who is currently world number 4 was last seen in action against Czech player Lukas Rosol in the second round at Wimbledon in June. He suffered a shock defeat in five sets in that match. After the match, the 11-times Grand Slam singles champion was diagnosed with a partial tear of the patella tendon and an inflammation in his left knee. Due to his injury, Nadal had to miss the Olympics as well as the US Open. He was the defending champion at both the events.

Nadal had won the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in 2010 and 2011 and was eager to get back to winning ways by lifting the trophy again. He will either play world number three Andy Murray of Britain or ninth seed Serbian Janko Tipsarevic. The other players to participate in the tournament are World number one Novak Djokovic, fifth ranked David Ferrer and world number six Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic.