Learner Tien entered qualifying at the 2025 Australian Open as the No. 121 player in the PIF ATP Rankings and still relatively under the radar. In his first-round qualifying match, the lefty needed to survive a second-set tie-break against Gregoire Barrere to avoid losing in straight sets at his first major outside the US Open.
Two weeks later, Tien was very much a known commodity at Melbourne Park, having reached the fourth round of the main draw with the highlight being a scintillating five-set performance against former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in the second round.
Tien had already won three ATP Challengers to reach his ranking. But puzzling Medvedev, known for stymying most players on the ATP Tour, was the biggest moment of his young career. A year earlier, Medvedev had been a set away from lifting the trophy Down Under, and suddenly he was flummoxed by a 19-year-old lefty standing 5’11”.
Was it unexpected at the time? Sure. But 52 weeks later, Tien is in an entirely new position. The reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion is 5-4 against Top-10 opposition and three weeks removed from a career-high No. 26 in the world. The Medvedev victory was clearly no fluke. In fact, the 20-year-old will have a chance to upset Medvedev once more Sunday on the very same court where he completed his stunner at 2:54 a.m.
“Much different circumstances this year than last year. A year later, I think I’m a lot more mature as a person and a player,” Tien told ATPTour.com. “I think just being on my own a lot more for the past year I’ve become a lot more independent and I think I’ve just gotten more used to the life, traveling more on my own and I think because of that I’ve grown a lot as a person as much as I have as a player.”
With players like Tien and Joao Fonseca taking the ATP Tour by storm at such an early age, it is easy to forget how young they really are. Tien is still a 20-year-old who would have been in college at the University of Southern California, where he played for one semester, had he not turned professional early. He would have been in class with his friends and living the life of a typical college student.
Instead, Tien is traveling the world entertaining millions of fans and battling throughout the year against the biggest stars in the sport.
“I think gradually I’ve started to accept that this is my life and hopefully this will be my life for years to come,” Tien said. “It’s been gradual, I’ve been getting used to it. I wouldn’t say that I woke up one morning and I suddenly felt like this is my life and everything was integrated into my life. But I think gradually over the past year I’ve come to terms with this [being] the new normal and I’ve accepted that.”
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The “new normal” on the court really began in Melbourne. Tien’s fourth-round showing was simply a sign of things to come. The only difference is that the lefty now carries lessons learned from his first full season on the ATP Tour, especially after bringing former World No. 2 Michael Chang onto his team in the middle of last season.
“I think I’m better all around. I wouldn’t say I’m playing drastically differently,” Tien said. “I would like to think I’m a bit less of a pusher now, maybe. I think the year’s worth of experience has been good for me and I think I’ve obviously improved a lot, but I wouldn’t say I’m a totally different player.”
One of the reasons Tien was so comfortable competing against such high-level players early in his career is that he has been around top players for much of his tennis life. When the American conducted his post-match media interviews Friday, one of his stops was at ESPN, where former World No. 11 Sam Querrey was at the desk.
Producers rolled old footage of a young Tien hitting balls with Querrey. Learner would be around Querrey and Steve Johnson in Carson from before he was a teen.
“Sam and I started hitting with him maybe when he was 12 or 13, and he’d always just be either on one side or in a corner,” Johnson said. “Even at that age you could just tell that there was something different because our ball didn’t affect him the way it would most 12, 13 years old kids. His timing was incredible.”
Johnson raved about Tien as a person. Yes, the former World No. 21 was — and still is — very impressed by his physical tennis skills. But he was more in awe of how Tien carried himself around professionals at such a young age.
“He always just seemed to be enjoying the moment when he was out there even at Carson at a young age. There were a lot of times where it probably wasn’t that fun for him as just a young kid doing whatever Sam and I needed him to do,” Johnson said. “But we could tell there was something different about the way he struck the ball, his movement and just his demeanour. He always was quiet, but positive, never negative and would just take whatever you gave him and would give it back most of the time with interest.”
By the time Tien was 15 or 16 years old, he began playing baseline points with Johnson and Querrey, longtime pros who were still competing at the top of the sport.
“It all almost felt relatively 50-50 at that point. That’s how good he was,” Johnson recalled. “We got the serve involved and that was going to be a little tough for him at that age, but that just comes with the territory.
“He was such a good striker of the tennis ball and can’t wait to see what he has in the future. He’s already accomplished so much in his young career and the sky is the limit, especially with Michael [Chang] on the bag. Now he’s just going to leave no stone unturned. His work ethic is incredible. I watch him work and every time I see him — he comes by LA every couple months — I watch him practise and play, and something impresses me every time he’s back that he just continually gets better and better.”
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