Nadal to participate in Kooyong Classic

World No.1 Rafael Nadal of Spain intends to compete in the Kooyong Classic exhibition tennis tournament in Melbourne, the organisers announced on Sunday.

The 31-year-old Spaniard is set to compete in the tournament, scheduled to take place between January 9-12, after a troublesome elbow injury forced him to withdraw from the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi and the ATP Brisbane International in Australia, reports Efe.

"Newsflash! World #1 @RafaelNadal will join @DjokerNole at the @KooyongClassic," the exhibition's organisers tweeted.

Both Nadal and former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia plan to compete in the tournament, along with David Goffin of Belgium, Dominic Thiem of Austria, Belinda Bencic of Switzerland and Andrea Petkovic of Germany, among others.

Nadal will be looking to tune up ahead of the Australian Open, scheduled for Jan. 15-28, where last year he was runner-up to Roger Federer of Switzerland.

The Australian Open is to mark the start of Nadal's season, following his withdrawal from the ATP Brisbane tournament in the first week of the regular tennis season.

Nadal is also scheduled to participate in the Tie Break Tens exhibition tournament on January 10 in Melbourne.

--IANS

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