London, United KingdomRafael Nadal of Spain attends a news conference after being defeated by Nick Kyrgios of Australia in their men's singles tennis match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London July 1, 2014.
London, United KingdomRafael Nadal of Spain attends a news conference after being defeated by Nick Kyrgios of Australia in their men's singles tennis match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, in London July 1, 2014. REUTERS

Rafael Nadal makes his most anticipated return to the tennis court at the China Open this week to challenge the world no. 1 Novak Djokovic. Nadal has not competed since his fourth round defeat by the Australian Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon in July after his wrist injury during a training session in Mallorca.

On Thursday, 14-time Grand Slam champion, Nadal appeared on an exhibition match in Kazakhstan, where he played and won against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The Spaniard lost the first set against Tsonga, but gained his commanding form to win 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4. After the match, Nadal took to Twitter to express his delight following his victory.

Feliz de volver a las pistas. La mejor sensación es esta...Happy to be back on the court. The best feeling is this one... pic.twitter.com/dly0iAaj3y

— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) September 25, 2014

In 2013, the Spaniard bounced to the world no. 1 ranking after a previous injury layoff, but the current world no. 2 has slid down the rankings due to his absences from competitions, while Djokovic wins four of the last tournaments he entered in Beijing.

"Novak dominates, you know, almost all the tournaments," Nadal said. "He's always there, semi-finals, finals, winning. He's one of the best players that I have ever seen. The 28-year-old, Nadal claimed that he is in good conditions to compete again and his motivation to head into the tournament is high. Despite his absences, Rafael Nadal has already secured his place in the season finale ATP World Tour Finals in London this November.

The China Open ATP 500 features five of the world's top ten ATP ranked tennis players. Djokovic leads the 32 player draw and he will face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez for his first round. Lopez previously had hart court win over Andy Murray in Indian Wells 2012 and Rafael Nadal in Bangkok 2010. On the other hand, Nadal faces Richard Gasquet for the China Open first round.

Meanwhile, the Swiss Maestro Roger Federer will not be competing in the China Open this year, while the Andy Murray has received a wild card entry to the tournament where he is the sixth seed. Murray, who is currently ranked world no. 11 was chasing points to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in London, a tournament that only features the top eight men's players of the world.

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