Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal, out of action since the middle of last season because of injury, will return at next month's ATP Brazil Open in Sao Paulo, his press spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.
"Rafa (Nadal) will play in the Sao Paulo tournament in Brazil," Benito Perez-Barbadillo told AFP in an email sent to AFP in Madrid.
A statement earlier on Tuesday from tournament sponsors DGW Comunicacion, which recently was involved with a Roger Federer exhibition appearance in Brazil, said the event which runs from February 11 to 17 will "mark the return to the circuit of one of world tennis' top stars".
Nadal, currently ranked four in the world, has won 11 Grand Slams but injuries have dogged him and the 26-year-old Spaniard hasn't played since June.
He had to miss the Australian Open because of a stomach virus while a succession of knee injuries have plagued his career.
Nadal, who had been widely expected to return to action in Acapulco, Mexico, at the end of February, two weeks after Sao Paulo, won the Brazil Open in 2005.