Rafael Nadal will be out of action for six to eight weeks after suffering a hip injury in the second round of the Australian Open, he announced on Thursday. Nadal revealed he injured his left hip flexor while facing America’s Mackenzie McDonald on Wednesday at the Rod Laver Arena.

The Spaniard suffered the injury during the second set of the match. However, Nadal went on to complete the match as he decided not to retire despite suffering horrible pain in his hip.

“I have carried out medical tests after the defeat yesterday. The MRI shows a grade 2 lesion in the Iliacus Psoas of his left leg. Now it’s sports rest and anti-inflammatory physiotherapy. Normal recovery time 6 to 8 weeks,” Nadal tweeted.

“He will be resting the next days once back in Spain and will start with anti-inflammatory physiotherapy,” his team said in a statement.

“The normal time estimated for a complete recuperation is between six and eight weeks.”

Nadal had admitted that it is hard for him to face such an injury at the start of the season. The Spaniard feels he had a good practice of almost three weeks but he will now need to start from scratch after recovering from his hip injury.

“I mean, hopefully, it’s nothing too bad. In the end (it has) been three positive weeks in terms of practice,” he told reporters after his defeat.

“So I really hope that (injury) doesn’t put me out of the court for a long time, because then it’s tough to make all the recovery again.

“It’s not only the recovery. It’s all the amount of work that you need to put together to come back at a decent level.”

Nadal will now get back into action before the clay court season and he will look to defend his title at Roland Garros.