Learner Tien, the tennis student schooling the masters of the sport
A second-generation immigrant of Vietnamese descent, education was naturally an important pillar in Tien’s upbringing, even if he gravitated more towards tennis rather than any school subject.
It explains his name, inspired by his mother’s job as a teacher and the value of learning, while his sister, Justice, takes her name from their father, a lawyer. “An attorney seeks justice. A teacher seeks a learner. They were virtuous names,” Tien’s dad, Khuong Dan Tien, told the Los Angeles Times in 2023.
On his academic background, Learner tells us, “I was a pretty good student – I was homeschooled for most of my life. My mom was an English and math teacher, so she was obviously pretty tough on me and always pushed me pretty hard in those subjects, but I never really had a love for anything in particular.
“It’s not like I loved school, or it was super enjoyable. If I didn’t end up playing professional tennis, there isn’t one subject that I would really want to pursue. I don’t think my grades were that bad, I think they were pretty good.”
Tien discovered his passion for tennis when he was five years old, and although he was pushed more in the academic realm than the sporting, it was on the court that the Californian flourished.
Indeed, it is remarkable that, at just 19 years of age, Tien is set for his fourth consecutive appearance at his home Slam. That does not come from coincidence.
In 2022, he lifted the USTA Boys 18s National Championship, a junior tournament for under-18-year-olds, which he won aged 16.
The national triumph earned the Irvine native a wildcard into that year’s US Open, where he was beaten in the first round.