“I have carried out medical tests after the defeat yesterday. The MRI shows a grade 2 injury in the iliopsoas of his left leg,” one of the hip flexor muscles, the 36-year-old wrote on Twitter.
“Now it’s sports rest and anti-inflammatory physiotherapy. Normal recovery time 6 to 8 weeks,” he added.
Reigning Australian Open champion Nadal was eliminated on Wednesday in a three-set match against American Mackenzie McDonald (6-4, 6-4, 7-5), during which he injured his hip.
At the end of the second quarter, with a set and a break down, the Spaniard felt pain when he tried to hit his drive and, after a medical timeout, he finished the match with hardly any run or backhand.
Dejected in the subsequent press conference, the Spaniard with the record of Grand Slams (22) in men’s tennis wished “not to have to spend a lot of time away again because, in the end, it is very difficult to get in shape (…) and even more so at an advanced age.”
If he meets the recovery times, he could make it right to the US tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami in March, or be more conservative and wait until April for the clay court season, his favorite surface, in Monte Carlo or Barcelona.
These tournaments could serve as preparation to face Roland Garros at the end of May, his favorite Grand Slam where he has already won 14 times.