Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are side-by-side in the Wimbledon seedings, but don't see eye-to-eye about the tournament's seeding policy.
Wimbledon opted to seed second-ranked Nadal third, behind world No. 3 Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion who arrives at SW19 fresh off his record-extending 10th Halle title.
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The 20-time Grand Slam champion says players know the seeding system and must adapt.
"The system is the way it is. It used to be different," Federer told the media at Wimbledon. "I don't know, I guess it was different also before that. There's not much we the players can add to the story, other than we just deal with it. At the end of the day, if you want to win the tournament, you got to go through all the players that are in front of you. And now that the draw is out, we move on.
"But we knew that the system was in place. I guess the system is, you know, it rewards you for playing a lot on the grass, well on grass. I guess I benefited from that. That was not part of my plan the last few years. Just happens that this year I get bumped up. Kevin Anderson got bumped up."
Two-time Wimbledon champion Nadal suggests the ATP bears some responsibility for allocating 2,000 ranking points to the Wimbledon champion, as it does for each Grand Slam champion, without requiring The Championships to adhere strictly to ATP rankings when setting its seeds.
"ATP we give two thousand points to this event," Nadal said. "We let them to do whatever they want. That's something that I don't understand, because I can't create an impact, not by myself. I really come here to play tennis.
"For me the goal is the same always, it doesn't matter if I'm second or third... The season is not only on grass. All the players work so hard to be where they are, then arrive here, they see a possibility to be in a tougher draw because of that."
Asked if he believes Wimbledon's seeding policy is fair, Nadal said no, but reiterated his position the ATP must demand a greater voice in seedings for The Championships.
"Talking about if is fair or not, I respect the Wimbledon rules," Nadal said. "Another thing is if I believe that is fair or not, that's another story. I really personally believe is not. But I really respect the tournament so much. I really respect the history of this event. I really understand that they see the sport from another perspective.
"They want to do it by their own rules. Another thing is we are an organization like ATP that, I repeat, we give two thousand points to this event. We supposed to have something to say about this Wimbledon rules when we are giving them the maximum points possible in one event."