MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 The Michael Chang influence on Learner Tien\u2019s tennis has people talking about what is possible for the 20-year-old American. <\/p>\n
Tien lost his first Grand Slam quarterfinal on Tuesday, to No. 3 Alexander Zverev, but even the 2025 Australian Open runnerup was startled by the difference he\u2019s noticed in a matter of months.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what Michael Chang has done with him in the offseason,\u201d said Zverev, who reached his 10th Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 7-6 (3) win. \u201cVery different than last year, for sure. It was incredible to see how he played from the baseline. I thought he was playing unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair played two head-to-heads last year, with Zverev winning in the first round at Roland Garros and Tien winning in the Round of 16 at Acapulco, where he reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier.<\/p>\n
Tien was a breakout star last year in Melbourne<\/a>, where he upset three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev<\/a> in the second round and made it to the Round of 16. He won his first ATP title in Metz and reached the final in Beijing. He also landed the crown at the ATP\u2019s Next Gen Finals in December.<\/p>\n This year at the Australian Open, he thumped Medvedev in straight sets to reach the last eight.<\/p>\n Tien was the youngest man since 2015 to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals. He was also the only player outside the Top 10 to make it.<\/p>\n Chang, the 1989 French Open champion, knows what it takes for a young player to beat the odds. He won the title at Roland Garros at the age of 17, which remains the youngest for a male to have won a Grand Slam singles crown.<\/p>\n He started working with Tien last year and was in the young player\u2019s support crew at Melbourne Park the last two weeks, offering technical advice and encouragement.<\/p>\n Chang\u2019s advice to step up to receive Zverev\u2019s second serve helped in the second set, when there was a noticeable turnaround in Tien\u2019s return points. But his opponent was too consistent with his first serve throughout the match, upping the pressure with 24 aces.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s always a very calming presence,\u201d Tien said of the 53-year-old Chang. \u201cOffers me a lot of stuff mid-match, especially stuff that maybe I\u2019m not picking up on.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously (Zverev) played a good match. He was playing pretty well from start to finish, so you know, for portions of the match, I was just trying to stay with him and not let him kind of run away with things.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s more of that. (Chang) was just giving me little bits of encouragement.\u201d<\/p>\n Tien said he\u2019s made a lot of headway since his previous trip to Australia, but is still working to improve his serve and his physicality.<\/p>\n \u201cPhysically, I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m close to, you know, where I hope to be one day,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think weeks like this are good to test myself. I get a lot of takeaways from winning and losing these matches.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just really sets me up to come back \u2014 come back and be even better the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n