Rafael Nadal will likely make his much awaited return on Thursday after being sidelined by a wrist injury since July.

According to a report on FanSided, Nadal, who has not played since losing to Nick Kyrgios in the fourth round of the 2014 Wimbledon, will make his comeback on Thursday in an exhibition match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Kazakhstan.

Sources said that Nadal wants to use the exhibition match against Tsonga to test his injured wrist, which forced him to skip the 2014 U.S. Open and Spain's campaign in the Davis Cup world group.

Nadal will reportedly make his return to competitive tennis at the Tokyo 500 tournament next week if he does not experience any setback following his match against Tsonga.

According to the report, Nadal is looking to play in the remaining big tournaments this year. He will reportedly play at the Shanghai Masters 1000 before heading to Europe.

It is still unclear at this point whether or not he will consider playing at the Basel 500 tournament, but his participation at the Paris Masters 1000 is reportedly set in stone as he looking to use the tournament to prepare for the ATP World Tour Finals.

Nadal, who fell to second in the ATP World Rankings after his early exit in the Wimbledon, was also scheduled to compete in the inaugural International Premier Tennis League, but the organizers announced on Monday that the Spaniard withdrew from the event.

"You know, Rafael has been hurt since Wimbledon he has not played any tennis. So obviously there was a risk there, and you know in the format we have, there is something, you know, neither party wanted to kind of take a chance with," IPTL founder Mahesh Bhupathi said.

With Nadal out of the IPTL, Bhupathi announced that Roger Federer will take his spot on the "Indian Aces" team, which also include Pete Sampras, Gael Monfils, Ana Ivanovic, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna and Fabrice Santoro.

"When you are talking of profile as high as Rafael Nadal, there was probably only one name that could have helped ease the pain and for us fortunately Roger was available and we made it happen," Bhupathi said.

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