Rafael Nadal will be back to his best and challenge at Roland Garros, says coach Toni Nadal

Toni Nadal has backed Rafael Nadal to get back to his best when he makes a return from injury in December at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships. The former world number one cut his 2016 season short after the Shanghai Masters in October owing to a wrist injury that has persisted since much earlier in the season.

The 30-year-old looked to be getting back to his best heading into Roland Garros this year following back-to-back titles at the Barcelona Open and Monte Carlo Masters, but suffered an injury during the French Open, forcing him to withdraw ahead of his third round clash against Marcel Granollers. Nadal also missed the Wimbledon, but returned for the Olympic Games in Rio and claimed gold in the men's doubles event with Marc Lopez, but fell to Kei Nishikori in the bronze medal match in the singles.

The Spaniard failed to make the last four in any of the tournaments which he played post the Olympics which saw him call time on his season to focus on recovering from his wrist injury and make a return next season. Nadal senior, who is the 14-time Grand Slam winner's coach and uncle, has backed his nephew to get back to his best and pinpointed Roland Garros as his best chance to add to his major tally in 2017.

"We will see the best Rafael Nadal next year, it will be a great season," Toni Nadal told Mallorca Esports, as translated by Tennis World.

"I think at Roland Garros we will be among the favourites with Djokovic. There are Murray and others as well, but I am confident that the tenth Roland Garros title can come.

"We started to practice for an hour per day, every day, and at the moment it is going well. We are going step-by-step like the doctor suggested," the most successful coach on the ATP Tour said when asked about his progress on the injury front and training regime.