BERNARD Tomic will be sidelined for up to three months after scans revealed a mysterious but longstanding hip injury, ruling him out of Australia's Davis Cup tie with France in a fortnight.

Tomic tried to delay surgery until after the January 31-February 2 tie, but was overruled by doctors. He will be operated on in the next week in Melbourne.

Tomic was jeered after retiring hurt one set into his first-round clash with Rafael Nadal last Tuesday, but further scans have confirmed the groin tear was related to his femoralacetabular impingement (FAI).

FAI is a condition affecting the hip joint in young and middle-aged adults, hindering agility and movement.

Dr Martin Clark said Tomic may have been hindered by FAI for up to a decade but expected him to make a full recovery in time for May's French Open.

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"Bernard's injury is complex and resulted from a hip condition called femoralacetabular impingement, which has placed significant limitations on Bernard's agility and speed and places him at constant risk of injury,'' Dr Clark said.

"He requires the surgery in the coming weeks and will likely return to the ATP circuit in three months.

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"Bernard was desperate to delay surgery until after Davis Cup but accepted strong medical advice that it shouldn't be delayed.''

The latest revelation is a blow for the 21-year-old, who had expected to be sidelined for between 1-3 weeks with a groin (adductor longus) tear.

Dr Clark said over a dozen AFL players had undergone the same surgery and returned to a high level of performance.

Presuming the surgery is a success, Dr Clark predicted Tomic would return to the court in career best physical shape.

"He would have had this for some years, at least 10 years. But it's only become very obvious recently and brought to a head with injury,'' he said.

"He wasn't aware that he had the condition (prior to the Australian Open).

"It is remarkable that he has had the success he has had considering this hip condition. The good news is that it can be fixed with surgery with most athletes returning with superior agility and speed.

"It's a condition that a lot of people have.''

Tomic has faced a public backlash since last Tuesday, with many questioning his desire.

He opted to face the press on Wednesday in the wake of the hostile reaction from the home crowd.

"I think I was misunderstood,'' Tomic said.

"The form I was in, I was ready to challenge Rafa and unfortunately this happened.

"I felt like I got booed a little bit on court, which was pretty unfair. I just needed to get my side out, which is obviously the truth and it's important.

"Obviously they (the crowd) thought I was shaking Rafa's hand because he's too good and I'm forfeiting the match because I can't play against him.

"So I needed to say it was my leg.

"I don't think they quite understood that it was my leg. And after, when I started to sort of explain that with my hand signals, they sort of it turned around into an applause.

"But that's the reason why."