Vietnamese-American tennis player makes a splash at the 2025 Australian Open

On the night of January 16, the second round of the 2025 Australian Open witnessed the match between the 5th seed of the tournament, Daniil Medvedev, and Learner Tien - a Vietnamese-American tennis player. It is hard to believe that the athlete born in 2005 can make a surprise against the world's top opponent.

Medvedev is the current Australian Open runner-up and it is no surprise that he gave his junior a hard time. On the contrary, Learner Tien showed a resilient fighting spirit. He constantly stuck to his opponent. He revealed some weaknesses in his serve as well as his unstable mentality but also showed impressive changes of direction and shots down the line. This brought victory to Learner Tien.

In the first set, Learner Tien won 6-3 to Medvedev's surprise. He continued to win 7-6 in set 2. But then, Medvedev proved his class when he saved the match-point in the tie-break of set 3. Experience helped this player come back to win 10-8. Set 4 witnessed Medvedev's complete domination with a 6-1 victory.

At the end of the fifth set, Learner Tien equalized the score 6-6. Next, the Vietnamese-born athlete played very well and defeated Medvedev in a match that lasted 5 hours.

This victory became the biggest surprise at the 2025 Australian Open because Learner Tien was only ranked 121st in the world and had to play in the qualifying round. He defeated Gregoire Barrere, Juan Pablo Ficovich, and Jozef Kovalik to qualify for the main round.

Learner Tien was born in 2005 in the US, with both parents being Vietnamese. His Vietnamese name is Tien, and his English name is based on his mother's profession as a math teacher. Learner Tien has reached two junior Grand Slam finals.