By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday January 20, 2020
Craig Tiley weighs in on the perception of preferential treatment of tennis' top players at Adelaide.
Photo Source: Getty
Australian Open boss Craig Tiley has weighed in on Adelaide and what many perceive as preferential star treatment of the six players (and their training partners) who are fortunate enough to be training in the city, located an eight-hour car drive from Melbourne, far from the crippling quarantines that we see in Melbourne.
Tiley, according to Nine News of Melbourne, doesn’t deny that those quarantining in Adelaide do have an advantage against the other players.
"I get the feeling it is perceived as preferential treatment," Tiley said. "But they're the top players in the world. My general rule is if you're at the top of the game, a Grand Slam champion, it's just the nature of the business. You are going to get a better deal."
We have not seen a lot of social media from Adelaide, but what we have seen indicates that the players there – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep, Dominic Thiem and Serena Williams among them—have more liberties than those in Melbourne.
It’s an issue that reportedly has irked many players.
Speaking with the No Challenges Remaining Podcast, ATP player Taro Daniel told Ben Rothenberg that the players in Melbourne have taken notice and are not pleased with the unequal treatment.
"It's pretty difficult to accept because ... I mean the difference is always there but this time it's in the spotlight, and it still doesn't seem to be getting [that much negative attention], the different treatment that they are getting versus what we are getting here," said Daniel, who is quarantining as a lucky loser in Melbourne, and is one of the 72 players that will not get out of his room for another ten days.
"Definitely players are not happy about the Adelaide thing, because in this case it's such a special circumstance, any advantage is multiplied by two or three compared to a normal year. I don't think anybody cares if they get to travel on a private jet and get free champagne service and stuff like that but I think when they get more practice time and get more balls to practice with and they can actually bring the whole team onto the court versus us when we can only bring one--Stuff like that does make a lot of difference, especially when the situation is even more difficult."
Taro also adds that the politics make the situation tricky. It’s hard to tell who is the driving force behind the perceived inequities.
"I don't know,” he said. “It's a difficult topic because if I was one of those top guys then it is also difficult not to accept the conditions that are given to you.”
Taro also mentioned that Djokovic at first wanted to avoid the potential controversy by having all players quarantine in Melbourne together, in the name of fairness.
"[He wanted to come back to] Melbourne and try and have everybody do the quarantine in Melbourne to make it fair," Taro said. "But I think there's a lot of politics involved there with the states also involved in making it even more difficult, they basically I think kind of forced them in--because they have the charity event, too. It's also hard to complain when you are given that treatment, I think."