Nadal’s 2016 season was plagued by physical problems and he cut his campaign short in October to recover fully to target a return to Grand Slam glory in 2017.
“Excited to announce my first tournament back will be in Abu Dhabi at the #MubadalaWorldTennisChampionship in December,” the Spaniard posted on his Twitter account on Monday.
Nadal, a three-time winner of the event, will be joined by new world number one Andy Murray, Milos Raonic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Goffin and Thomas Berdych in the six-man even from December 29-31.
PTI