And now Rafa adds Chile to his schedule!!

Estoy encantado de confirmar mi participación en el torneo de Viña del Mar en Chile. Me gustaría agradecer a los... fb.me/v4YyNvoG
— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) January 17, 2013

The Viña del Mar tournament in Chile is actually the one that had been rumoured for over a week now that Rafa would play. But then with the announcement of his participation in the Brasil Open, I did wonder if this had gone away.

But noh! Rafa announced that he would be playing via Twitter as follows [rough translation] :-

"I'm delighted to confirm I will be participating to the Viña del Mar tournament in Chile."

I'd like to thank the tournament's organisation for inviting me and I'd like to say that I have many fans in the Andean region, and at last I'll be able to go there in person to meet them and play my first tournament since the injury which has kept me away from court for so long."

"Thanks so much and see you in Viña."

So Rafa's comeback won't be in Acapulco, it won't be in Sao Paulo ... it will be in Viña del Mar, with the tournament starting proper on 4th February.

Blimey-O-Riley. It'll be here before we know it.

So Rafa will play Chile and Brazil consecutively, then he'll have a week's break before going to Mexico. Now then. I fully expect there to be some negative fall out from this (we are talking about Rafa, after all), with much wailing and gnashing of teeth that he's playing too much too soon - blah, blah, blah. But I tell you what was worrying me ... When it was just Acapulco before going to Indian Wells and Miami, I was much more concerned that Rafa would have precious little match play returning from injury before hitting the hardcourt Masters with its full complement of the Men's tour ready and waiting to try and pick him off. And then BANG ... he would be straight into the European clay court season with all those points to defend prior to his most important Slam, the French Open.

So whilst it may be a fair amount of tennis on his return, I actually think it's a much better schedule to prepare him for Monte Carlo and what comes after. He needs to have confidence in that knee, he needs some match play under his belt, his needs some wins against his name, and he needs to find his all important rhythm.

I feel positive about it, and I think it's a good move. Now then, just exactly how many hours is Chile behind the UK?? VAMOS!!