Kyrgios proven right as Top 100 player leaves his country for the first time as 20-year-old

Back in November, at the tail-end of the 2022 tennis season, walking headline-maker Nick Kyrgios vented his frustration at the ATP schedule, blasting the men's governing body for putting Australians at a disadvantage.

Family-man Nick voiced his concern that players from Down Under had to spent so much time away from their families just to make any sort of mark on the rankings.

Now, many at the time could be forgiven for thinking this was just Nick being Nick, always more than ready to criticism anyone and everyone, be it player, sport, friend or foe.

But fellow pro Diego Scwartzman made similar comments regarding South Americans, when he said: "South Americans are in different situations compared to European players. We travel too much, and sometimes we are not coming back home for 2-3 months, while Europeans can fly home every week. It’s tough.”

And now a quirky fact regarding US player Ben Shelton seems to back up both players points.

On December 27, Shelton posted a pic on his social media channels showing himself on a plane as he set off for Australia to compete.

It transpired that not only had Shelton never played a match outside his native United States, but he had in fact never even left the country - using his passport for the first time whilst en route.

And, as he suffered defeat at the hands of hometown favourite Jack Duckworth in Adelaide, it makes you wonder if any other player from any other country in the world would be able to never leave their home country and still reach the ATP top 100 - just as Shelton has done.

Shelton had an incredible run towards the end of 2022, winning three Challenger events in a row in Charlottesville, Knoxville and Champaign, Illinois to reach World No.96 and defy all logic.

With the minimal tournaments played in either Australia or South America it proves that both Kyrgios and Scwartzman may have had a valid reason to moan - is the ATP tour bias towards Europeans?