"People tend to complain when they are in a certain position" - Rafael Nadal on the differences in Melbourne & Adelaide

Much has been made of Tennis Australia's move to host Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem and other top players in Adelaide instead of Melbourne. And Nadal recently touched upon the subject in an interview with ESPN, claiming that the apparent lack of equality is a matter of perspective.

The Spaniard's comments come in the wake of 72 players being sent into hard quarantine after multiple positive tests were returned from their flights. Those 72 players as well as the rest who are quarantining in Melbourne seem to have been short-changed in comparison to the Adelaide stars, but Nadal insisted that there is a fine line separating 'privilege' from coincidence.

"It is understandable, respectable. Where is the line of privileges? I have a different view," 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 also alluded to the fact that the the players with better rooms and facilities in Melbourne itself haven't expressed their opposition to the supposedly unequal treatment.

"In the end people tend to complain when they are in a certain position and there are others of a different position," Rafael Nadal said. "They say that players in Adelaide have better conditions, but I haven’t heard from any player from Melbourne that has much better rooms than others complain that they have better rooms."

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.

"Some of us help in a more private way, without having to publicize it" - Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic (L) and Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic attempted to help those in Melbourne by submitting a list of suggestions to Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley, while Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Serena Williams didn't make any public comment about the tough conditions.

Nadal, however, claimed that he has been helping his peers and listening to their grievances without making a big show of it.

“In the end we are all trying to help each other out, that is a fact,” Rafael Nadal said. “Some have the need to make it public, the things they are doing to try to help, some of us do it in a more private way, without having to publicize everything that we do.”