Rafael Nadal to return from his knee injury at Tie Break Tens tournament

The world number one will be part of the winner-takes all Tie Break Tens event at Melbourne Park on January 10, five days before the first grand slam of the season begins

Rafael Nadal has not played since the World Tour Finals in November (Getty)

World number one Rafael Nadal will make his comeback from injury at an exhibition event in Melbourne next week, as he attempts to prove his match fitness ahead of the Australian Open.

The 31-year-old has not played a match since he withdrew from the World Tour Finals in November with a knee injury.

He was scheduled to make his comeback at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition event in Abu Dhabi but was forced to pull out when his recovery took longer than anticipated. He then withdrew from this week’s Brisbane International as well as another event in Sydney, citing a lack of preparation time.

However Nadal will attempt to play the Tie Break Tens event at Melbourne Park on January 10 as he seeks to build up some much needed match fitness ahead of the first Grand Slam of the season, which starts ten days later. Nadal has won the Australian Open once before, in 2009.

“Tie Break Tens is a great concept and we will see and play some exciting matches,” Nadal said in a statement yesterday.

“The field is fantastic and I expect some tough competition which will be great for the Aussie fans.”

Launched in 2015, Tie Breaks Tens is a quick-fire tournament lasting three and a half hours in which only tie-break matches are played.

The eight-man field for the male-only event will include Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Nick Kyrgios and the returning Lleyton Hewitt, and the winner will take home prize money of $250,000.

It is the first-time the short-form tournament will take place in Australia, with Tennis Australia recently clarifying that there will be no women’s event because of the number of players currently competing in other tournaments worldwide.

“It really will be an intriguing contest,” Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley said.

Lleyton Hewitt will make his return at the event (Getty)

“These guys are all coming in at different stages of their preparation, but once their competitive instincts kick in, which will be almost instant in this format, there will be some absorbing contests.

“Remember, there is not much room for error. You lose the tie break and you are out.”

Last year the third edition of Tie Breaks Tens was staged in Madrid, with Grigor Dimitrov beating Feliciano López in the men’s final and Simona Halep prevailing over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the women’s.