Nadal opened his Australian Open campaign today with a first-round win over Victor Estrella Burgos, shaking off his knee injury worries with a convincing 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 triumph.

And the Spaniard is determined to stay focused on matters on court despite a major issue arising off it.

According to the Daily Mail, Novak Djokovic addressed a players’ meeting on Friday and called upon his fellow professionals to form a separate union and campaign for more prize money to go to the players.

The Serb even brought with him a lawyer who sketched out the technicalities of forming such a union.

The former world No 1 is said to have received support from a number of players including Gilles Simon and Alexander Zverev but not Roger Federer.

But Nadal was keen to stay out of the media storm surrounding the incident, which took place at the only meeting of the year that is mandatory for all ATP players.

“Every year here in Australia, there is talks about new things,” Nadal said. 

“There is always an issue here in Australia, no?

“I really believe that there is plenty of time later on the year to speak about things.

“But now is the moment, for me personally, to play tennis, to play tennis and to try my best on court.

“That's all really. I really focus on this.”

Both Grigor Dimitrov and Kyle Edmund were also quizzed about the meeting during their post-match press conferences on Monday but refused to pass comment.

But Kevin Anderson, who was beaten by Edmund and is vice-president of the players’ council, was quick to pour cold water on talk of a full-scale player rebellion.

“It was a discussion, nothing more than that,” Anderson said.

“It was very brief. There is a not a lot of substance to it right now.”