Learner Tien started the 2025 Next Gen Finals by losing his opening match, and many sounded the alarm. What has happened to a player who essentially was the breakout player on the ATP Tour, let alone among young players? Was the hype overblown? Was he crumbling under pressure?
Well, nothing happened, because he went on an absolute tear in the matches after that, dropping only two sets the rest of the way. The most impressive part of Tien’s run is that he was able to rise to the occasion when it mattered most. When the lights were brightest, he shined.
In the semifinal, he pretty cleanly dispatched compatriot Nishesh Basavareddy. The crucial thing in that match was Tien simply not beating himself. He was solid from the serve, solid on return, solid in rallies, and all of that amounted to a pretty clean match where he never looked in danger.
Basavareddy, meanwhile, totaled twice as many unforced errors as winners. When you consider that five of those winners were aces, then you have a player who had only five winners from live play and 25 unforced errors. That’s a rough stat line, and it wasn’t because Basavareddy suddenly forgot how to play tennis.
The overall solid tennis that Tien plays is what forces opponents into that kind of imbalance. Never forget that Daniil Medvedev praised Tien for being a complete player who does everything well, so well that even a lack of a powerful serve doesn’t impact him negatively against some of the best players in the world. That’s high praise from someone who knows a thing or two about winning matches without overpowering opponents.
How Tien Bested Blockx
Blockx got some of that same medicine in the final because that’s what he struggled with as well. We’re talking about a player who came into the match without losing a single one. He was pretty much perfect in all of them, including the semifinal, where he didn’t lose a single set either. In fact, Blockx had lost only two sets coming into the match against Tien.
So the final for the American wasn’t against a player who stumbled into it by luck or a favorable draw. Blockx got there because he played a fantastic event, and he was pretty solid in the final too. The problem for him was that Tien was just a bit more solid, and in tennis, that’s often all it takes.
Blockx was once again pretty good from the serve and generally was the more aggressive player, which had served him well throughout the tournament. However, that aggression veered a bit too much into reckless territory, and he totaled 23 unforced errors. Tien had only 12 because he waited for his opponent to play himself out of the match.
Despite Blockx not being the type of player who typically does that on the regular, he fell into the trap as well. It’s a testament to Tien’s ability to impose his game on opponents, even ones who have been nearly flawless all week.
The Numbers
The opening set was the most crucial one, as it was the set where, in many ways, the fate of the match was sealed. Whoever won that opening set would have had the benefit of being more confident heading into the rest of the match, and it ended up being decided in a tiebreak. Tien played it perfectly and won it 7-3, setting the tone for everything that followed.
Another crucial part for Tien was absolutely clinical play on his serve. He dropped only five points behind his first serve, which is superb considering how good of a player Blockx is and how aggressive he was on return. Part of that was the Belgian missing, sure, but overall Tien just never looked shaken in any way. Not once. He never dropped his serve either and allowed only two break points the entire match.
He also did really well on return, creating four break chances and converting two of them to avoid any kind of complications in the match. The final scoreline was 4-3(4) 4-2 4-1–very comfortable by Next Gen standards.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the final score tells the right story. Tien was too solid and won comfortably, which is what many expected before this event even began. He came into this tournament as a big favorite considering the amount of experience on the highest level he brought compared to the rest of the field.
He’s player ready to reach the second week of Grand Slams, so this should have come relatively easy for him, and for the most part, it did. After that opening stumble, Tien looked every bit the favorite, methodically dismantling opponents with mature, complete tennis that suggests he’s ready for even bigger things.
The Next Gen Finals champion? That’s nice. But something tells us Learner Tien has his sights set on much loftier goals. This was just the warm-up act.
Main Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images