Tien: "I had been waiting a year to lift this trophy"
Learner Tien, champion at the ATP Next Gen Finals 2025, talks about his incredible week in Jeddah.
It is a recent tournament, without much history, but with a list of champions that puts pressure on them. Names like Stefanos Tsitsipas, Carlos Alcaraz, or Joao Fonseca have already lifted this trophy in the past, although today it is Learner Tien who has the honors. The young American fulfilled as the favorite to step into the spotlight completely.
"I am super happy. This year I achieved many of my goals. I had a pretty long list of goals I wanted to achieve, and I accomplished most of them. I'm very happy," said Learner in statements reported by the official ATP website. "I don't think my coach talks much during the matches," Tien explained about Chang, his coach. "When he feels I need to hear something, he always tells me, and I think that helps me a lot."
A Title Highly Coveted by Learner Tien
"I knew it was going to be a tough match... I don’t think he missed a single first serve in the first set and a half. I think he's been playing amazingly, so I'm very happy to have advanced," asserted the young American about that brief final in Jeddah and his opponent Alexander Blockx, who declined as the match progressed.
The Turning Point for Learner Tien
"It's fantastic to add my name to the list of previous winners. I believe all the players who have won this tournament have performed very well, so it means a lot to measure up to those names. I've been waiting for this trophy for a year... It's a fantastic feeling, especially after coming so close last year.
If I had lost one more set in that group stage match (against Budkov), I would have been eliminated. After losing that first set, I won nine sets in a row, really, so I'm very glad. I'm very happy to have achieved it."
This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Tien: "Llevaba un año esperando levantar este trofeo"