Rafael Nadal: 'To have Roger Federer and Djokovic in front of you...'

Tennis Australia's choice to grant Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem a privileged quarantine in Adelaide has sparked countless controversies in the recent period. The criticism escalated especially after 72 players were placed in solitary confinement after the positive cases emerged on charter flights to Melbourne. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic sent a letter to Craig Tiley calling for an easing of the restrictive measures, a move that - if possible - further heightened public resentment towards Australian Open participants. In fact, the tennis players have obtained special permission from the authorities to reach the country, while 37,000 Australian citizens are still waiting to be able to return. In a recent interview granted to ESPN, Nadal expressed his opinion on the matter (after receiving the not too veiled accusation of the Argentine Guido Pella).

Nadal on his relationship with Federer and Djokovic

"It is understandable, respectable. Where is the line of privileges? I have a different view," Rafael Nadal said. "Here in Adelaide our conditions have been better than most of the conditions in Melbourne, but some Melbourne players have larger rooms where they can perform physical activities, others smaller rooms where they cannot have contact with their coach or physical trainer. Where is the line? It is a matter of ethics, of which each one has his opinion." Nadal believes that if the Melbourne players truly wanted a level playing field, they should have also raised their voice against even a single player being sent into hard quarantine. "Or of the 29 players that have unfortunately been on hard lockdown without being able to train, I haven’t seen any of the players that complained so much about our conditions say, in favor of having equal conditions, we are all gonna quarantine without training," Nadal added. Rafael Nadal then went on to lavish high praise on his two greatest rivals - Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic - claiming that the trio have made each other better players over the years. "I think we always had a good relationship, a lot of respect. We did beautiful things together and important things for our sport," Rafael Nadal said. "We push each other to be better. To have somebody in front of you that's doing a lot of things better than you, it gives you a clear way about what you need to improve to achieve your goals." A few days ago the news also came that Rafa will be at the start of the Rotterdam tournament, which could allow him to return to the top of the ATP ranking.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/36hKwQM