Nadal confirms return to action while Federer reveals doubt as year-end No 1 race heats up

Rafael Nadal has confirmed that he will take part in the Paris Masters beginning on Monday (30 October) after recovering from a knee injury that kept him out of the ongoing Swiss Indoors in Basel.

The Spaniard sustained the knee injury during his run to the finals of the Shanghai Masters and was carrying it during his final loss to Roger Federer.

Nadal decided to take a break on the advice of his doctor and skip the event in Basel to focus on the final two events of the season in Paris and the ATP Finals in London later next month. It was the 31-year-old's first break of a 75-match campaign, which has yielded him six titles including two Grand Slams – the French and the US Open.

The 16-time men's singles Grand Slam champion's absence has given Federer a chance to reduce the point's deficit between them at the top of the rankings as they battle for the year-end number one ranking.

Nadal, currently the world number one is 1,960 points ahead of Federer in number two and the Swiss ace can reduce it to 1,460 with a win in Basel. The former will hope to get back to winning ways in Paris and hold the advantage going into the final event in London in November.

Nadal confirmed his Paris appearance via his official Instagram account on Friday (27 October) and he is looking for his first title in the French capital. Everyone looking forward to another Nadal-Federer encounter could be disappointed as the Swiss star, who is currently playing in Basel, indicated after his quarter-final win that he could skip Paris Bercy to concentrate on the ATP Finals in London.

"Ready for Paris!!" Nadal wrote on his official Instagram account alongside a picture of him on the training court.