Rafael Nadal hopes to return to action at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi before heading to Australia to compete in the first Grand Slam of the year. The Spaniard has been out of action since August when he lost in the Round of 16 at the ATP 500 event in Washington.

The former world number one has been struggling with a foot injury since Roland Garros in May. It even forced Nadal to pull out of Wimbledon and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics before he returned for the ATP 500 event in Washington.

The recurrence of the foot injury saw the 13-time French Open champion end his season in order to receive treatment over the summer. Nadal was still unsure about his return date when asked about his progress last month, but has now revealed that he could return in December after making good progress in his rehabilitation process.

"My plan is to play Abu Dhabi in December and then in a tournament before Australia and then the Australian Open. That's my goal," the 20-time grand slam champion said, as quoted on BBC Sport. "We're working hard to make it happen."

The 35-year-old explained that he is still not completely in the clear, but was positive that he could increase his training load in the weeks to come. Nadal confirmed that he was back on the court and is feeling much better going into the 2022 season.

"The injury in my foot still needs to get a little better, but I'm already training almost an hour and a half a day so that's positive," Nadal added. "I'm training, I'm feeling better. I'm back on the court."

The Mallorca native last won the Australian Open in 2009 and has since lost in the final on four occasions. Nadal is currently tied with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic on 20 men's singles Grand Slam titles and it is still unclear if either of his big rivals will be in Australia for the first major of the year.

Rafael Nadal
Spain's Rafael Nadal won a 10th title in Rome Filippo MONTEFORTE/AFP
Rafael Nadal Novak Djokovic Roger Federer Australian Open