Learner Tien has established himself as one of the top men’s tennis players globally, yet he revealed he did not always enjoy watching the sport growing up.
A Breakthrough Year on Tour
Tien has experienced the finest season of his career in 2026, capturing his second ATP title in Geneva alongside quarter-final and semi-final appearances at the Australian Open and Canadian Open, respectively. These strong results have propelled him into the top 20 rankings and earned him admiration from fans and legends alike, including Roger Federer.
Despite his rising stardom, Tien disclosed that watching professional tennis used to hold little appeal for him during his childhood, as he found matches excessively slow and unengaging.
Finding the Sport Boring
Speaking on The Big T Podcast, as reported by sports.yahoo.com, Tien explained that he would regularly “zone out” while watching tennis on television or in person and preferred to watch brief highlight clips instead. He singled out former player Gael Monfils as an exception he enjoyed watching.
“I did not watch much tennis growing up,” Tien told sports.yahoo.com. “It was kind of boring to me, it was too slow. I think the changeovers and the breaks, it just wasn’t engaging enough for me. I would watch the Slams and the big matches where I knew this is an important match, but even with some of those matches I would zone out and I wouldn’t really watch.”
Tien added that lengthy changeovers and pauses between points were the primary drawbacks for him as a viewer. However, he noted that his perspective has completely shifted now that he competes professionally on the ATP Tour, where those same breaks serve as crucial rest periods during matches.
Final Tournament of the Season
Following a recent defeat to Alex de Minaur at the Vienna Open, Tien has just a single singles tournament remaining on his 2026 calendar at the Paris Masters, which begins on Monday, November 2. He made his debut at the French capital event in 2025, exiting in the second round against Andrey Rublev.
Because of his ascent in the rankings, Tien enters this year’s tournament as a seeded player, meaning he will bypass other seeded competitors until at least the third round. Even though he has few ranking points to defend from the previous year’s Paris Masters, he faces pressure to maintain his position because he will lose 250 points from his victory at last year’s Metz tournament, an event that has since been removed from the calendar. A poor performance in Paris risks dropping him out of the top 20.
