When Learner Tien came to Jeddah 12 months ago to compete at the Next Gen ATP Finals, it was his first time participating in a professional tennis tournament outside the US.

The Californian, 19 years old at the time, made it to the final at King Abdullah Sports City last December, setting himself up nicely for what turned out to be an impressive 2025 campaign.

Ranked 122 in the world at the start of the year and finishing it at a career-high No. 28, Tien’s first full season on the ATP Tour had it all.

As he competed in 25 cities across 13 countries between the end of December 2024 and the beginning of November this year, his path to that 94-spot jump in the rankings included: a maiden appearance in a Grand Slam fourth round on his Australian Open debut, five victories over top-10 opponents, a first-round US Open showdown with Novak Djokovic at Arthur Ashe Stadium, a first ATP final appearance in Beijing where he fell to Jannik Sinner, and a maiden ATP title run to close out the year in style at the Moselle Open in Metz.

Back in Jeddah this week for another shot at clinching the Next Gen Finals crown, the top-seeded Tien understandably feels good about the progress he has made over the past 12 months.

“It’s easy to say that I feel like all around I’ve improved,” he told Arab News ahead of his opener on Wednesday against seventh-seed Rafael Jodar. “I think I’ve gotten better managing myself week to week.

“I think that’s one of the biggest things: handling the wins, handling the losses. I think obviously my game has improved on the court but I’d say mentally, off the court, handling matches and stuff like that has probably improved the most.”

Tien started the year with a bang in Australia, winning six matches in a row, through qualifying and the main draw, to become the youngest man since Rafael Nadal in 2005 to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open.

That run included a grueling four hour, 48 minute victory over fifth-ranked Daniil Medvedev that ended at 2:54 a.m. in Melbourne.

His heroics Down Under provided a welcome “confidence boost,” which he followed up with a maiden ATP 500 quarter-final appearance in Acapulco a month later, knocking out second-ranked Alexander Zverev along the way.

Experiencing so many firsts and stepping up to the ATP level understandably came with its own set of new challenges, which slowed Tien’s momentum. He lost three consecutive openers upon his return to the US, crashing out early in Indian Wells, Miami and Houston, and amassing a 3-7 win-loss record through the “clay swing,” a surface he was not so familiar with, especially at the professional level.

“Things got a little bit choppy,” he said. “But I think I’m just very happy with how I kind of rebounded through some of the tougher moments of the year. And through the ups and downs, I stayed pretty consistent.”

Looking back, Tien admits the tour felt “overwhelming” at times during the year, and spending so much time away from home was not an easy adjustment.

He also was not used to taking so many losses. The previous year, he recorded 63 wins and just 14 defeats across ITF, Challenger and ATP events; at one point he won 28 matches in a row. Stepping up to the big leagues in 2025 was a whole other story.

“I think it was slightly overwhelming sometimes,” he said. “But on the other hand it was also very exciting, just because I’ll only be going to those places for the first time this year.

“So I was trying to enjoy it as much as possible. Some of the weeks were tough. just because I was losing some weeks and then I go to another place that I wasn’t that familiar with, and maybe I’d lose again. I wasn’t super used to being away from home that much. I also wasn’t used to losing that much in some parts of the year.

“So I think, week to week, sometimes it was tough just managing everything. It felt like a lot. But looking back, it really wasn’t as scary as it felt sometimes. And so I almost wish I enjoyed some of those weeks a bit more than I did.”

The most impressive part of Tien’s journey this year came at the end, when he found a way to regroup and wrapped up his season with a 15-4 run.

From a runner-up showing in Beijing to his fourth-round effort in Shanghai, and that crowning moment in Metz, Tien cemented his position as one of the most promising young prospects on the tour and has pretty much secured himself seeding at next month’s Australian Open. The best part is that none of this has surprised him one bit.

“I always believed that I could finish the year pretty strong, especially during the summer when I was kind of having a little bit of a rough patch,” he said. “I always thought I can definitely end the year very well and it wouldn’t surprise me if I did.

“Honestly, belief was one of the biggest things, going to some of those tournaments. Playing on a hard court is something that’s very, very natural for me and I’m pretty comfortable with it.

“So I always felt like I would have a good shot of doing well at the end of the year, especially indoors, which is a surface that I like. So partially that and partially just not letting the downs get to me that much; just, I guess, maintaining hope, maintaining belief that I could end the year on a high note.”

Tien’s triumph in Metz means he is the first American teenager to lift an ATP title since Andy Roddick in 2002.

Hearing his name mentioned alongside legends of the sport such as Nadal and Roddick means a lot to him, but he said he tries not to focus on such statistics too much so that he does not get ahead of himself.

The 20-year-old practices a cerebral game based on problem-solving and finding a way to outwit opponents, and his approach to the sport in general is equally smart.

“Ever since I started playing tour events I’ve heard from different people: ‘It’s just one week; if you have a bad loss, it’s just one week, you’re playing so many weeks, you’re playing so many matches, one match doesn’t define your season, doesn’t define your career, one match is one match, whether you win or lose,’” he said.

It is that mentality that helped him navigate some of the lows he experienced this year. Another key element in his success over the past 12 months was the addition of former French Open champion Michael Chang to his coaching team in the middle of the season.

Chang, whose 1980 Roland Garros success made him the youngest player in history to win a Grand Slam men’s singles title, knows what it’s like to cope with success at a young age, and the Hall-of-Famer brought some invaluable experience to Team Tien.

Tien says he does not know exactly how the collaboration with Chang came about but is grateful to have him in his corner.

“I’m very fortunate with how everything happened. It’s been great having him. He has so much experience as a coach, as a player, he’s really helped me a lot in a lot of different aspects of my game. He sees the game very well,” Tien said of the 53-year-old American.

“I feel like he communicates very well. It’s very, very easy to listen to him, to learn from him. And the way he presents information, the way he coaches, it’s very easy. So I’ve enjoyed it a lot and it’s really been great for me.”

Tien said he hopes to continue working with Chang in 2026: “I’d love to. It’s been great. Yeah, yeah, for as long as he’s willing to, yes.”

Of the many great matches Tien played in 2025, his three clashes with Medvedev in particular captured the imagination of many tennis fans who could not get enough of the captivating match-up.

Tien won two of the three duels, and also enjoyed victories over other top-10 players such as Zverev, Ben Shelton, Andrey Rublev and Lorenzo Musetti.

“I’m lucky to have played those matches because not everyone gets to play those matches, especially in their first year, so I think it was very cool,” he said, reflecting on the high-profile contests he was part of this year.

“I got to play Novak (in the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium) which, you know, it doesn’t happen to everyone. It kind of sucks that it had to be first round; you don’t open the draw and you’re super happy with that draw. But I think it’s very cool.

“It’s very special to play those matches against people that you grew up watching, looking up to. I think the experience is great, especially for me, going out there getting to play at these stadiums against players ranked so high. It’s great for my development, I think. And pulling off some of those matches is great for my confidence as well.”

Tien has yet to face off against world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and admitted he’d “love to play him.”

He quickly added with a smile: “Not first round, hopefully. But yeah, I think that’d be really cool.”

Tien said he is a goal-setter who likes to write down his targets for the season in a notebook so he can check them off, one by one, as the year goes on. He refuses to share those goals publicly but confessed that he did not check off all the boxes he put on his list for 2025.

For now, though, he is focused on this week’s Next Gen Finals in Jeddah, where he heads the Blue Group alongside Spanish duo Jodar and Martin Landaluce, and Norwegian Nicolai Budkov Kjaer.

The Red Group comprises Belgian second seed Alexander Blockx, Croatian Dino Prizmic, American Nishesh Basavareddy, and Germany’s Justin Engel.

The tournament, which features eight of the best players on the ATP Tour age 20 or younger, takes place at King Abdullah Sports City from December 17 to 21. The total prize money on offer is $2,101,250, with the champion set to take home $539,750.