Defending champion Rafael Nadal accepts wildcard into next weeks Argentina Open

• Rafael Nadal accepts a wildcard into next week’s Argentina Open in Buenos Aires
• Argentina Open tennis is live from Buenos Aires from 8–14 February.

Rafael Nadal has taken a wildcard to defend his title at next week’s Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.

World no. 5 Rafael Nadal was not originally scheduled to appear at the 250 Argentina Open in Buenos Aires, which will be played 8–14 February 2016.

Nadal’s decision to play Buenos Aires doubtless has a lot to do with his early exit from the Australian Open. After making a decent start to the year by reaching the final of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, where he lost to Novak Djokovic, Nadal was stunned by compatriot Fernando Verdasco in the first round in Melbourne and ended up making a rapid return to Mallorca, where he has been training.

The ‘Golden Swing’, as the series of South American clay-court tournaments played throughout February is known, begins this week at the Ecuador Open in Quito and has been a happy hunting-ground for nine-time French Open champion Nadal in the past. Nadal first played in Buenos Aires in 2005 before neglecting that part of the world for the next eight years, but returned in 2013 when Santiago, Chile was the chosen venue for his return to competition after a seven-month absence from the tour.

Nadal also played in Sao Paolo and Acapulco that season before triumphing at the inaugural Rio Open in 2014. He returned to the Golden Swing in 2015 after falling in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and although he lost in the semifinals of Rio de Janeiro, he moved on to Buenos Aires where he defeated four Argentinian players — Facundo Arguello, Federico Delbonis, Carlos Berlocq and Juan Monaco — to claim his first title since the 2014 French Open.

Argentina Open 2016 live stream: How to watch and bet on tennis live from Buenos Aires

Although Nadal would go on to win another 250 title on grass in Stuttgart and a 500 tournament on clay in Hamburg during the 2015 season, he didn’t win a Masters 1000 Series tournament or a Grand Slam for the first year in a decade and his winning run at the French Open was ended by Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

A strong finish to the season, which saw Nadal finish runner-up in Basel and Beijing and reach the semifinals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals where he defeated Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka, promised a revival in 2016 for the former world no. 1 but Nadal’s first-round defeat to Verdasco at the Australian Open dealt him a severe blow and it is no surprise he is returning to clay to get some wins and build some confidence ahead of the first Masters events of the season in Indian Wells and Miami.

With the addition of Nadal to the Argentina Open field, the Buenos Aires event will now feature four top-12 players: World no. 5 Nadal, world no. 6 David Ferrer, world no. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and world no. 12 John Isner.

Argentina’s top player Leonardo Mayer, 2014 Buenos Aires runner-up Fabio Fognini, former champion Nicolas Almagro and Verdasco are also in the field for the Argentina Open, raising the intriguing possibility that Nadal and Verdasco could clash early in the draw once more.

Argentina Open tennis is live from Buenos Aires from 8–14 February 2016.