Bill Simons
In tennis there are certain truths.
Roger is smooth.
Coco is sweet.
Carlos beams bright.
Billie Jean wins awards.
And Tien is a fast learner.
Teen sensation Learner Tien won his first tournament at five, and he hasn’t stopped winning. His mother Huyen may have gotten out of Vietnam on a ship that was attacked by pirates, but her son glides. With feathery strides he bounds about tennis courts, while in life he’s living the American (and the ATP) dream.
The Irvine native has done it all. As a kid he won Kalamazoo twice and was No. 4 in the world. He was a powerhouse in Futures and Challenger tournaments, and, at just 19, he made it to the finals of the Next Gen tourney in Saudi Arabia. He then came to Melbourne and swept through the qualifying tourney and then became the youngest man to reach the fourth round since Rafa in 2005.
The appealing sensation is incredibly poised – calm at his core – a monk would be proud. He anticipates like a demon – his speed astounds,
his defense is seamless. Shot tolerance is front and center on his resume. He’ll slice and scamper, then blast an unafraid winner – what a merciless sniper.
And he’s fond of winning streaks: a jaw-dropping 28 matches in a row last year, and six straight in Melbourne. Five set matches? Who cares? Not a problem.
His David-takes-it-to-Goliath shock win over Daniil Medvedev remains the match of the tourney. Deep into the Melbourne night, the Russian octopus didn’t know what hit him. And on Saturday, in an epic battle of ATP tricksters, Learner downed the dangerous Corentin Moutet, in an epic first-set tiebreak, 12-10, and then, in the heat, ground the Frenchman down until early in the third set Moutet collapsed with a painful full-body cramp, that helped Tien collect a 7-6(10), 6-3, 6-3 win and write another chapter for the feel-good story of the AO.
Tien is one of four Americans in the fourth round – “Strength in numbers, baby, strength in numbers!”
Yes, America’s top gun, Taylor Fritz, was out-blasted by Gael Monfils and fell Saturday. But Learner, along with his fellow southpaw Ben Shelton, his longtime friend and Irvine practice partner Alex Michelsen, and veteran Tommy Paul, who reached the 2023 Melbourne semis, hope to break the 22-year drought in Slams that American men are enduring.
Of course, (from a red, white and blue perspective) dream killers Sinner, Alcaraz, Djokovic and Zverev still lurk. Thanks to the recent surge in American tennis, our players are regularly going deep into the second week of Slams.
But, at the very least, there’s more hope than ever. And all droughts come to an end – don’t they?
DANIELLE’S FRIENDS ASK: “TAKE ME ON A SEA CRUISE:” Feisty Danielle Collins was again booed on court, and this time she lost, falling 6-4, 6-4, to her friend Madison Keys. Off-court, she remained defiant and proud, insisting that tennis needs entertainment, and her taunting a hostile Aussie crowd was just “trying to make fun of the situation.”
The other day the Floridian sarcastically thanked the crowd for backing the Danielle Collins Fund, which would underwrite her yacht outings in the Bahamas. Collins reported that her friends knew she was just being herself, and asked her if they’d be invited on her yacht.
GAEL AND HIS GAL: France’s timeless Gael Monfils, 38, again drank from the fountain of youth, he scored a shocking come-from-behind, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1), 6-4, win over Taylor Fritz on Margaret Court Arena. Then his wife Elina Svitolina downed Jasmine Paolini. The husband and wife duo had both beaten the No. 4 seeds to get into the fourth round. It was also the first time a husband and wife team scored back-to-back wins on the same Slam arena.
Between them, Monfils and Svitolina have reached five Slam semis. But that pales in comparison to the best husband-wife team in tennis history. Stefanie Graf and Andre Agassi reached 59 major finals and won 30 Slams.
THE LUCKIEST OF LOSERS: In 2018 the unheralded Argentine Marco Trungelliti, who was No. 190 in the world, heard he’d gained a last-minute spot in the French Open. But he was in Barcelona and planes were being canceled and there was a train strike, so he borrowed his grandmother’s Volkswagen and drove ten hours to Paris. After he won his first-round match, he became the toast of the town.
Similarly, Marcus Willis was a lowly $40-an-hour pro teaching 5 to 10-year-olds in London when he won a tourney that got him into the Wimbledon qualifying tournament. After he prevailed there, he took his opening round match in the main draw. But then a guy named Federer ended his seven-match winning streak. Oh, well, Willis had his glorious 15 minutes of fame.
All this brings us to world No. 128 Eva Lys. When the German lost in this year’s Aussie Open qualifying, her dad and coach said, “That’s it,” and flew home. But his daughter hung out, and, when Anna Kalinskaya pulled out, she had ten minutes to make it to her first-round match.
She did – and promptly took full advantage of a puffy draw, beating Jaqueline Cristian, Varvara Gracheva and Kimberly Birrell, to become the first ever lucky loser to reach the Aussie Open’s fourth round. She posted on Instagram, “Sometimes you only need a second chance.” The 23-year-old will next face Iga Swiatek. The last time they played, Lys won two games. But no worries: Eva will take home at least $420,000.
IGA’S FEAST AT TIFFANY’S EXPENSE: Tennis can be dreary. Is it that much of a catastrophe if a top star has a one-billionth of a gram of something in his blood, or that a jet-lagged five-time Slam winner took a not-so-proper sleeping pill in Cincy?
And on-court tennis is sometimes a tedious, drama-free zone. At the start of Saturday’s Aussie Open play, the Polish pounder Iga Swiatek took it to the pretty English sports princess Emma Raducanu, who has few tournament wins, but more big-time endorsements with the likes of Dior, Porsche, British Air, Evian and Tiffany.
Speaking of which, it was Breakfast at Tiffany’s for the Pole who scored a breadstick and bagel win over tennis’ Tiffany gal, 6-1, 6-0.
A COMPASSIONATE KNIGHT IN A MOMENT OF NEED: After Raducanu got destroyed by Swiatek, Sir Andy Murray brushed aside her loss. Emma reported their encounter saying, “I saw Andy and he said, ‘Well done,’ and congratulated me and that was really nice…It was nice to get that pat on the back.”
BIKING AND CRYING: Some presume that trust fund babies and children of billionaires are simply entitled snowflakes. Boxer Marvin Hagler quipped that if you sleep in silk pajamas, it’s tough to wake up at six in the morning and go for a run.
But, not so fast.
Emma Navarro, the daughter of billionaire Ben Navarro, has played 31 three-set matches in the last 13 months. After she toughed out a marathon match against Ons Jabeur, Chanda Rubin asked the US Open semi-finalist and top ten player how she got to be so tough physically.
Emma, who has three siblings, explained, “My dad used to drag us on a lot of really long bike rides and hikes. We made up a term – ‘biking and crying.’ We’d be six hours in, and we all had tears in her eyes. We’d just be exhausted, trying to pedal up a hill and feeling our bikes were going to roll back downwards. So I learned a lot of toughness, thanks to him.”
ALEX THE UNSEEN: Alexander Michelsen is great, but the 6′ 4″ rising star has been under the radar. Fortunately, the home of the Aliso Viejo resident wasn’t endangered by flames and he can’t claim a dazzling, out-of-nowhere Cinderella story, like his longtime Irvine pal Learner Tien. But the superb talent, with a great backhand, improved forehand and high tennis IQ, has already taken out the No. 11 seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and the No. 19 Karen Khachanov. The No. 42 in the world says it pumps him up to play in front of hostile crowds. That’s good – he’ll next play Aussie Alex de Minaur on Rod Laver Arena.
CALIFORNIA DREAMING: For the first time since Pete Sampras and Michael Chang in 1997, two Southern California men are into the fourth round of the AO. Tien and Michelsen hope to equal Taylor Fritz’s 2024 run to the quarters. They’ve already surpassed SoCal stalwarts Sam Querrey and Stevie Johnson, neither of whom got beyond the third round in Melbourne.
COCO’S COOKING: Gauff is cooking again, and her coco is hot. She’s bounced back from a dip bigtime, winning in China and at the WTA Championships. The Floridian was the star at the United Cup and hasn’t lost a set this year. She’ll next face the resurgent Swiss mother Belinda Bencic.
Newlywed Madison Keys has been playing Slams for 14 years. Six times she’s gotten to the semis or further, and she’s still hoping to avenge her long-ago loss in the 2017 US Open final.
She beat Collins to get to the fourth round, where she’ll play Elena Rybakina, who’s been struggling on and off court. Emma Navarro, the No. 8 seed, will play the No. 9 seed, Dasha Kasatkina.
VIVA LA DIFFERENCE: The firey John McEnroe asked Jannik Sinner how he keeps his cool. The calm Italian replied, “We can say we are a bit different, me and you…But it shows that everyone is different, everyone has their own mentality. I have mine. I have to say I’m quite happy with my one.”
