"I Wanna Achieve Great Things": Learner Tien Chasing ATP Breakthrough

American tennis player Learner Tien (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images for BMW)

When the only matches you've seen Roger Federer play are “those of his decline” and your inspiration in tennis was Carlos Alcaraz, one thing is clear: you are very young, remarkably young. And your name is Learner Tien.

“I want to be great. I want to achieve great things in the sport,” said the 19-year-old American during a recent interview with CLAY, also published in RG Media, in which he paused at a question that was both obvious and repeated: what did he learn from being named Learner?

"My mother sometimes jokes that I was named that, you know, wishfully, hoping I would be one. And I think I do a pretty good job of it,‘ replied the player, who was born 19 years ago in Irvine, California, with a laugh. ’People make a lot of puns and stuff about it."

Ranked 55th in the world, many see Tien as part of a great rivalry with Brazilian Joao Fonseca, ranked 52nd in the ATP rankings at the age of 18.

Interview With Learner Tien

- What did you learn in this early stage of your career about being a professional tennis player?

- A lot. I'm taking a lot of it for the first time. I'm playing a lot of new places that I haven't played before, against players I had never played before. Enjoying where I am, but still taking a lot of lessons from kind of being at a lot of these places playing a lot of these matches.

- Do you still have the chance to enjoy places and to enjoy new rivals, or is the pressure of being a professional tennis player so huge that you don't really enjoy that?

- I feel like I do a pretty good job of enjoying myself. Sometimes it's easier, too, than others. But I think I don't put a lot of expectations on myself. I go out there and I try to enjoy what I'm doing. And, you know, it works out a lot of the time.

- What's your favourite Grand Slam tournament?

- I've always liked Australia since I played juniors. I feel like maybe if I say Australia, I'm a little bit biased just because of the success I've had there so far. At the same time, playing in New York and in your home country is great as well. It's great to come from a Grand Slam country and it's always really fun and it's really special to play there. So it's tough for me to say.

- You like hardcourt, clearly. When you were growing up, who was the player you really wanted to be like? A guy you admired.

- I didn't really have that one person growing up. But you know, when I was growing up, big three all playing, I was fortunate to kind of grow up and play tennis while they were still playing and dominating. So it's hard for me to put my finger on just one player. But I feel like I'm pretty lucky to grow up in a generation of really good tennis.

- Djokovic, Nadal, Federer. Who do you choose and why?

- I don't know. It's very hard for me to say. I didn't watch too much tennis growing up. I started kind of watching tennis when Fed was kind of starting to decline, and he was close to retirement. But I've gotten a lot more into tennis since maybe I was 15, 16, and watching a lot of old videos of Novak, Nadal, and Fed all playing when they were young. It's incredible, my mind changes a lot, honestly.

- In which sense, in which aspect? 

- It's tough. I feel like I'm a little biased sometimes because Novak is still playing, and I still see him out playing and stuff.

- You can still play against him, unlike Federer and Nadal.

- That would be really cool I think. To play anyone from that generation. I played Nishikori and I lost, but it was still really cool, playing someone that you've seen for so long, like on TV when I was really young. To see yourself in that screen playing as him is like a sensation. It's pretty surreal. It's definitely like a childhood dream to play against people you're watching on TV.

- So, if you have to choose one, it's Djokovic because you still can play against him.

- No, no, no. I don't know. I don't know. It's very tough. It's very tough. I don't know. Maybe you can ask me in a few years.

- Fast forward: Alcaraz and Sinner, who is the one you like the most? 

- The first person I kind of started watching when I really started liking to watch tennis was Alcaraz. It was kind of when he was coming up. I think it might have been like 2021, kind of when he was starting to break through, and he kind of pulled me into watching tennis. So I'd probably have to give him the edge there.

- Speaking about different generations, there is someone of your generation who is hitting big headlines, Joao Fonseca, the Brazilian. Lots of people are talking about him, and many people see a potential rivalry between you and him. Do you foresee that, or is it too early to think about it?

- Haven't thought too much about it. We've played with each other a lot. We're both similar ages. So I think people pit us against each other a lot of the time. We have played a good bit. And I think if it does become a rivalry sometime down the road. It would be a good thing. That means we're both doing pretty well.

- So, you want it to happen.

- Yes. If you become good enough to form a rivalry, I think it speaks to how well both players are doing. So I don't think that would be a bad thing at all. But it's very early, so I don't think that far ahead.

- Is there anything you admire about him as a person, as a player?

- I think he's a great player. He's very nice on and off the court. Definitely has a lot of power. That's very obvious. I think he does a good job with the expectation put on him, and he comes out and performs. It's really cool what he's been doing.

- When Carlos Alcaraz gets asked about his goal, he says, I want to be the best player ever. What's your goal?

- Great sounds big. How great is great?

- I don't know. I'm not sure. I really love tennis. I love going out there and competing. I really just try to enjoy the moment. I don't feel the need to put the expectation of a ceiling or floor on myself. That's all I'm saying.

- You just go with the flow?

- Obviously don't want to go with the flow and, you know, just float around. But I don't think too far ahead like that.

- There is an ongoing discussion now about the Grand Slams. For instance, the Italian federation says they want to stage a Grand Slam in Rome, like in Paris, in Melbourne, New York, in London. Would you agree with having more Grand Slams than the four we have now?

- I don't know. I feel like the Grand Slams are all so iconic. I feel like they've been around and it's just been the four for so long. I mean, I played in Rome for the first time this year. The people over there really love tennis. The atmosphere is great, no matter who's playing, who's practicing, they're out there and they love it. I feel like growing up, it was just always the four slams, so it's hard to see it any other way.

- Hadn't you been a tennis player, did you have a plan B? Did you want to be, I don't know, a physician or whatever?

- Not really. From when I was really young, I always kind of felt like I would be a professional tennis player. And I did really truly believe that that would happen. At that age when I was young, I honestly didn't really know how hard it would be. There's people older than me saying it's going to be really difficult. If you want to become a professional tennis player, you're going to have to work really hard. And a lot of things have to fall into place. 

I was pretty naive. I just thought it would fall into my hands. And then through my early teenage years, there were definitely some doubts whether it would happen or not, or whether I even wanted it or not. I kind of found a little bit more clarity in my mid teenage years and I decided this is really what I want to do, this is really what I want, I want to put everything into it.

- Was there any other sport you liked to play or was it just tennis?

- I started tennis so early when I was one year old, pretty much so. I've seen videos of myself hitting a little foam ball when I was one.

- Who was the tennis fanatic in your family? 

- Both my parents play tennis. My dad, I think, likes it more than my mom. My dad was my primary coach for a very long time. He kind of started me off. They both play recreationally, but I'd say my dad loves it a lot more.

- So you basically had no choice, you had to play tennis.

- Pretty much. They never forced it upon me, but I started pretty young. It was just kind of in my hands, and I didn't really want to do anything else. So that's kind of where it all stemmed from.