Bill Simons
We know a lot about the octopus Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open winner who long has been a master of the hard courts and had to go on a hard flight after becoming a father for the second time about 10 days ago.
We hardly knew anything about Learner Tien – the Irvine native with an interesting name. But now that the 19-year-old has beaten Medvedev in the middle of a Melbourne night in the biggest shock upset by any American in recent memory, we’re learning that he’s a quiet assassin who can shoot down just about any player.
Yes, Southern California has been plagued by red late-night flames, but the Vietnamese-American southpaw in all red was lifting the spirits of those few who saw him win the first two sets over mighty Medvedev, and, in a scintillating third-set tiebreak, battle his way to a match point.
But there’s a reason the former world No. 1 has been at the forefront of tennis for years. He’s a chess master with a killer backhand and seamless defense. Few have higher tennis IQs. The Russian has moves and tricks that have long baffled foes, and on Learner’s match point he blasted a serve in order to survive.
The 6’ 6” Daniil had seemed to deflate his far smaller 6’ 1” foe. Medvedev was playing his 33rd Grand Slam and his 538th ATP match.
Come on – Tien was just a teen playing in only his 15th tour level match. Yes, he had been on a magical run in small Futures events and challengers, from a Lakewood city park to Phil Cello’s Solano County challenger.
Yes, he’d made it to the Next Gen Championships in Saudi Arabia, and then 7,670 miles away in Melbourne, he qualified for the Aussie Open and then outlasted an Argentine in five sets. But downing Camilo Ugo Carabelli and upsetting the No. 5 seed Medvedev are two completely different matters.
Yet Learner is a different kind of guy. His parents came from Vietnam and became a teacher and a real estate lawyer. They named their daughter Justice, and their son Learner grew to deal out justice on court with his seamless defense, his uncanny anticipation, his surprise power and his calm. Patience is a weapon. Learner is a sniper.
All that’s nice. But the upstart was put in his place by Medvedev’s devastating triumph in the third-set tiebreak.
Then in the fourth set, Learner’s spirit seemed to have been crushed. Now the crafty veteran would romp. Plus, Learner had to pee in the worst way. At least, when he was down 5-0, he managed to hold serve to win a game, so he would start serving in the crucial fifth set.
Yes, his savvy foe hit from corner to corner. So Learner ran like a zephyr. Often he seemed impenetrable. He drew Medvedev to the net, hit clutch volleys, attacked Daniil’s forehand and served with uncanny accuracy.
But there are few better game managers than Medvedev, who time and again seemed to be in control. Up 6-5 in the fifth set, Daniil served for the match and was just two points from victory. But an icy Learner backhand shredded Medvedev’s hopes. As Americans sporting hippie tie-dyed shirts and NBA merch cheered him on in the half-full Margaret Court Arena, the fifth set went to a tiebreak.
There a Tien forehand went wide and Medvedev raced to a 7-6 lead in the first fifth-set 10-point tiebreaker of his career.
Learner was just three points from defeat. But his cool, unshakeable resolve was simply astounding. And Tien unleashed a laser-like running forehand pass and pounced. In a flash he reeled off four straight points to score the most dramatic win so far of the 2025 Australian Open, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (8), 1-6, 7-6 (7).
The 4:53 marathon, which ended at 2:54 AM, was the sixth latest Aussie Open finish ever.
After his improbable win, the California kid with the shiny dark hair was stunned. You would be, too. Only 18 months ago he was just another Trojan on Brett Masi’s USC team, with the hardly impressive ranking of No. 884. No wonder that, in this Melbourne morning, Learner was dazed.
What elation his parents must have felt as they watched in California. Their son was the second youngest American to reach the third round of the Aussie Open, after Pete Sampras in 1990. Historians quickly found their “youngest American teenager to do this or to do that” stats. And they compared the emergence of Learner and his fellow Orange County prospect Alex Michelsen with the early triumphs of two other Southern California kids, Sampras and Michael Chang, 35 years ago.
Yes, this week the whole tennis world has been stunned by the flashy debut of the 18-year-old Brazilian phenom, Joao Fonseca, but in the early hours of Melbourne’s morning, we learned that Learner, too, is a user-friendly talent we will relish for decades, and that tennis has an uncanny way of renewing its storylines and inspiring our spirit.
