After recovering from rib injury, Rafael Nadal confirms Madrid comeback

WATCH: Tennis Channel Live discusses Nadal's return to practice and comeback from injury.

After being sidelined with injury for over a month, Rafael Nadal took to social media to announce his return to action will take place on home soil—or make that home “tierra”, as he joins the stacked field on the clay of the Mutua Madrid Open.

“Despite arriving with only just enough preparation and it being difficult, I really want to play and play at home since the opportunities are few,” the 35-year-old wrote on social media. “So I'm going to try to do it in the best possible way.

“See you in Madrid.”

Nadal will be eager to get back to his winning ways in the Spanish capital, as the five-time champion made a red-hot start to the season winning 20 matches in a row. Along the way, he added a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open to his haul, lifted trophies in Melbourne and Acapulco, and booked his place in the Indian Wells final.

But that’s where his season was put on ice, as he was halted in two sets by Taylor Fritz in his only loss of the year. Nadal suffered breathing issues and needed treatment throughout the match, later revealing he had suffered a stress fracture in his rib.

"This is not good news and I didn't expect it," Nadal wrote at the time. "I'm devastated and sad because it comes after a great start to the season."

Experts cited four to six weeks of recovery time, and indeed today marks exactly five weeks since Nadal made that announcement.

That’s good news for the Spaniard, who will be looking to get in as many matches as possible to make up for lost time during the clay season. Madrid has never been Nadal’s happiest hunting ground—he has ‘only’ won that title five times, and last year reached the quarterfinals—so he likely won’t face the added pressure of being expected to take home the trophy.

That won’t be the case later on in Rome and Roland Garros, where he owns the record for most titles at both tournaments. He is the defending champion at the former and will be defending semifinalist points at the latter.

Nadal is currently ranked world No. 4.