During the 2022-2023 collegiate tennis season, University of Southern California freshman Learner Tien took the Pac-12 by storm with his left-hand brilliance and silky drop-shots. A former Roland-Garros Junior Champion and an Australian Open Juniors Runner-up, Tien was a mid-season addition to the Trojans and instantly made his mark, going 3-0 in singles and 6-3 in doubles with an honorable mention in the All-Pac 12 by the end of his shortened season.
This type of season is not normal for a freshman. Leading his team in singles win percentage while also not dropping a set in finished matches in the NCAA Tournament is unheard of. It was clear that this was just the start for Tien.
Just a few years later, he’d go on to shock the tennis world.
After an impressive year of success, Tien took his talents to the pro level with the Association of Tennis Professionals, or ATP, Tour. Breaking into the top 500 in November 2023 and the top 200 in August 2024, the teenager prepared to qualify for his first main draw of a grand slam at the 2025 Australian Open.
In the qualifying tournament, Tien blazed through his opponents, defeating Gregoire Barrere (No.143), Juan Pablo Ficovich (No.190) and Jozef Kovalik (No.129) to qualify for the tournament.
Tien matched up against No. 94 Camilo Ugo Carabelli in the first round of the Australian Open and dropped the first and fourth before taking the following sets 4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to advance to the second round.
It was then round that Tien faced a near-impossible task, matching up with the current world No. 5, former Australian Open finalist, world No. 1 and grand slam winner Daniil Medvedev. In his first major tournament, it seemed highly unlikely that the 19-year-old could take down an experienced and consensus top-five player in Medvedev. But in an unlikely turn of events, it was Tien who fired forehand winners, struck backhands down the line and hit perfect volleys to take the first set 6-3.
As the match continued, Tien’s confidence and momentum grew, carrying him to take a two sets to love lead over Medvedev who was left shaken and asking his coaches for help. Being an experienced veteran, Medvedev knew how to overcome adversity, winning the next two sets and taking the match to a deciding fifth set. Up to this point, Tien had never played a five-set match while Medvedev played in a five-set match in this tournament’s final just one year earlier. All odds favored Medvedev, but Tien stayed with it, going toe-to-toe with him leading up to a deciding set tiebreak.
Both split the first six points before Medvedev took a mini-break — win a point off your opponent’s serve in a tiebreak — for a 6-4 lead. Tien got the mini-break back with a sweet drop-shot and evened the tiebreak at six. After taking another mini-break off Medvedev and holding serve, Tien found himself with a 9-7 lead and just one point away from victory.
The crowd chanted “LEARNER TIEN… LEARNER TIEN!!” as he stepped up to the baseline to serve. A 148 kph serve flew down the middle, forcing Medvedev to shank the shot out of bounce — and just like that, the 19 year old out of USC defeated one of the best tennis players in the world in his first-ever grand slam appearance.
Tien looked at his team with disbelief and joy. Medvedev showed sportsmanship, congratulating Tien and wishing him luck moving forward. The win marked the biggest victory of his young career as he marched on to the third round of the Australian Open. “In the end, I am just glad to get a win,” Tien said in a post-match television interview.
The miraculous run didn’t end there. In the third round, he faced off against Corentin Moutet, an established top-100 player and a man who has made the third round in multiple slams. However, Tien’s confidence was sky-high as he quickly took charge of the match, winning a first-set tiebreak on his way to a straight-sets victory in just under three hours. Tien became the youngest male to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open since Rafael Nadal in 2005 with the win.
“These past couple of weeks have been great for me, to know that at this level I can have success,” Tien said in his post-match press conference after defeating Moutet. “I haven’t played too many tour events or matches, so to have the run that I did, it’s a huge boost for my confidence.”
In the fourth round, he took on Lorenzo Sonego, a man who has a career-high ranking of No. 21 in the world and is currently ranked just outside the top 50. In this match, Tien struggled a bit more with getting to his spots, firing winners and struggled to get his serve going. In the end, Sonego got the better of the young American in four sets. But the loss just served as the beginning of Tien’s career.
“It’s really tough to put into words,” Tien said about his Australian Open run after his loss against Sonego. “I came here without having any expectations just to come here and play my first Australian Open. I didn’t have a specific goal or result I wanted to leave here with or anything like this, so to have a run like this is surreal. A run that I will probably remember for the rest of my career.”
The former Trojan has a promising future and will continue to grow as a person and player. Look out for him, as he will be a household name in the tennis world very soon.
