I hope Tien can achieve something big. That said, I think it's difficult.
He plays smart and lots of variety, consistent hitting from both wings. He is very good at retrieving. But none of his shots is a big weapon to earn free points. He's a bit short, small, Asian built.
If he can't somewhat find a way to hit the ball with more power, he must improve his movements, needs to be very quick on court. He also needs to optimize his transitional game, come to the net to finish points quickly.
I think Learner should learn from the playing style of Michael Chang, although I'm not sure that Chang could be successful in today's era.

 

I don't think so, unlike Fonseca, Tien is still learning.

 

1.80 height is not ideal, I don't think in modern tennis a player with this height can win a Slam but who knows. I like his game.

 

Alcaraz? I don't think he's 1.83

 

I have just been listening to an episode of 'Three' which discusses Learner Tien and his potential, especially in comparison to Joao Fonseca. Here's a summary of the main points for anyone who is interested.

Amy Lundy: Tien is an incredible mover, solid off both wings, his serve is a work in progress. He himself said that he doesn’t want to grind himself into a pulp and he needs to figure out a way to win more free points with his serve. Likely that he needs to work more on placement and spin than power. He picks things up quickly and is committed to improvement.

Joel Drucker: Quoted another analyst who described Tien as ‘a needler and a meddler.’ He takes the ball early, takes the pace off the ball, uses tactics and variety to disrupt his opponent.

Gill Gross: Tien had an insane win streak last year on the Challenger circuit, won 3 Challenger titles. Run to R4 at AO. Two top 5 wins already over Medvedev and Zverev (although notes the illness factor with Zverev and the Acapulco win). 19 years old, #83. Interesting to compare him with Fonseca - the instinct is to put a little bit of a ceiling on Tien because he doesn’t have big weapons, but is that fair?

Joel Druckner: Not fair to either of them to make comparisons or predictions at this stage of their career.

Amy Lundy: Saw a scouting report that advised that the best strategy to beat Fonseca currently is to rally to his FH, Strengths can also be weaknesses, tennis is a game of errors and Fonseca is making more errors right now. Tien makes very few errors. Both great players, difficult to see the future.

Gill Gross: The highlight reel with Fonseca is intoxicating, which matters in terms of popularity and hype… Overall, more potential in a young player with easy power who misses a lot, as long as they have the right mentality, compared to a player who is very consistent but damaging their opponent doesn’t come easily to them. For whatever reason, the more consistent player can often have better mental traits. Fonseca is very good mentally, so trusts him to improve the areas that need improving in his game. Acknowledges Fonseca has one of the most error-prone FHs in the world, but not concerned about that longterm…
Makes a comparison between Medvedev and Tien, the obvious discrepancy being their height. Medvedev had a weapon in his 1st serve but he was ‘a needler and a meddler’, most of his game being about defence and tactics and moving his opponent around the court. Tien is like Medvedev, if you take away the serve and add a more offensive FH and the ability to come forward to the net more…
Tien seems to be a very good competitor, his decision making and tennis IQ are incredible, he has the ability to apply pressure and not miss.

 

Thanks for sharing. I hope you didn’t yourself write this? Some kind of transcript and AI?

 

I don't necessarily agree with the oundits on 'Three' but I thought some of the things they said were quite thought provoking. I like Tien and I hope that he can make it to the top 10 because his game could provide a very nice contrast to some of his contemporaries like Fonseca. He's a defensive player but I'm not sold on the Medvedev comparison in terms of assessing his potential, because there are too many difference between them in my opinion. I don't really see him as a slam contender but he maybe has the potential to consistently go deep at slams. He had a 3 month injury hiatus at the beginning of last year, I always worry a little more about players like him developing injuries, so hoping that he manages to avoid any serious injuries.

 

Tien's lefty hook gives him an unusual advantage especially on serve. He's also deceptively powerful. Deceptive because of his height. At 5'11" he's the same height as Agassi and only 1" shorter than Alcaraz. Fonseca is 6'1" so not that much taller. Both can continue to grow.

As I mentioned in the results thread with Zverev, Tien is the Baby Face Assassin. His youth, baby face, smaller size, rounded shoulders, slightly odd gait may cause other players to still not take him seriously, which could work to his advantage. But Fonseca is much more on people's radar now because of his bigger build, more powerful FH, winning ATP NextGen and now an ATP 500, that could all end up working to his disadvantage.

Fonseca definitely has more buzz but I think the jury's still out on both. Need to see them play Alcaraz, Sinner, Djoko, Draper, Rune & Shelton to assess where they are.

 

Tien's lefty hook gives him an unusual advantage especially on serve. He's also deceptively powerful. Deceptive because of his height. At 5'11" he's the same height as Agassi and only 1" shorter than Alcaraz. Fonseca is 6'1" so not that much taller. Both can continue to grow.

As I mentioned in the results thread with Zverev, Tien is the Baby Face Assassin. His youth, baby face, smaller size, rounded shoulders, slightly odd gait may cause other players to still not take him seriously, which could work to his advantage. But Fonseca is much more on people's radar now because of his bigger build, more powerful FH, winning ATP NextGen and now an ATP 500, that could all end up working to his disadvantage.

Fonseca definitely has more buzz but I think the jury's still out on both. Need to see them play Alcaraz, Sinner, Djoko, Draper, Rune & Shelton to assess where they are.

Shelton? He's a useless servebot.

 

Great game and huge talent and brain.
Lacks power.
These days, the latter is a must have to achieve something big.

 

I alway hate jumping to “Asian player = Michael Chang” comparisons, but for Tien the comparisons work a lot in terms of the variety he has off both wings as a take-the-ball-early counterpuncher. Trouble is that blueprint hasn’t been a top 10 fixture in a long time and very much does grind a player down quickly, so he’ll need to develop something else to differentiate.

For me, the player whose serve he should emulate is Agassi. He wasn’t a serve bot by any definition, but by virtue of disguise and placement, he was able to operate his serve at a much higher level than similar-height players. If your 3rd and 2nd gear serves are perfect slices and kicks at 105mph and 95mph, it means your 4th gear at 115mph flat feels a lot faster for an opponent.

Obviously easier said than done, but that’s the kind of style he should be working on for his serve.

 

I don't remember Agassi having particularly menacing serve. His strength was that very few felt happy rallying with him. He was quick to gain an upper hand early in the rally and suffocate an opponent moving him east-west.

 

He's had some big wins, but winning a slam requires you to beat 3 or 4 really good players who are performing well enough to make the second week. I can't see him doing that anytime soon when guys like Zverev, Ruud, or even someone a tier below like peak Coric couldn't. You don't see too many random slam winners in recent years on the ATP side like you do in the WTA.

 

As of today I'm reasonably sure that Tien's career achievements will not reach Zverev/Medvedev territory.

 

I hope Miami gives him one of the WC as he deserves it.
Please don't make him play the qualifiers.

 

Enjoy watching him! His shots are very smooth to watch in person.

If Ruud can make Slam finals, then Tien may as well. But, like Ruud, I don't see him being competitive in those finals due to the limitations others have pointed out. He is likely to be overpowered.

 

Gonna have a chance to see Tien in the flesh. As much as people want Fonseca to be the next big thing , I wonder if Learner will be vying for slams in the next four years?

No chance at all, we are no longer in 2001-2006 when guys like Hewitt could win slams and reach finals and get routined by Federer and Safin.

 

Definitely the next Mannarino.

 

I have a lot of hope for Tein - his game is really sold. If he gets his serve going then top 30 is definite.
He plays like Brandon Nakashima in some ways but hopefully does better as his game still has to evolve.

 

I see Learner reaching the top 10 in the next few years, winning 250/500s and maybe 1000s with the right draw. Slam QF / SFs but beyond that probably a stretch.

More difficult to predict Fonseca as he’s less consistent (certainly possible he has a higher ceiling but I’ve not seen enough deep runs in tournaments yet to back that)

 

I love him. Sexy Asian twink.

 

Tien reminds me more of Hingis. Great court craft and anticipation/foot speed and does not miss much. He also can be offensive if given the time. He did run into problems when facing an in the zone Machac who overpowered him.

But overall, if he could beef up and get his first serve percentage up, he has the game to trouble and beat most players. He has already proven to be a giant killer and hopefully can train hard to be able to do it day in and day out. His game is very fun to watch.

 

Relying on defense and running down everything is not a path for a long career. Which is proven by Hingis herself. Premier speed is the first to go. "Beefing up" is also the way to lose an edge in speed...

 

Relying on defense and running down everything is not a path for a long career. Which is proven by Hingis herself. Premier speed is the first to go. "Beefing up" is also the way to lose an edge in speed...

I can't believe someone reduces Hingis game to this. You make her sound like a Spanish clay courter, when clay was her absolute worst surface.

 

Tien got the Miami WC as he should being ranked 68th now.