Student Ten: Why ‘the sky is the limit’ for the American star | ATP tour | Tennis

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Student Ten: Why ‘the sky is the limit’ for the American star

Read more about the 20-year-old’s impressive rise
January 24, 2026

Student Ten entered qualifying at the 2025 Australian Open as the No. 121 player in the PIF ATP rankings and still relatively under the radar. In his first-round qualifying match, the southpaw had to survive a second-set tiebreak against Gregoire Barrere to avoid losing in straight sets at his first major outside the US Open.

Two weeks later, Tien was a household name at Melbourne Park, having reached the fourth round of the main draw, culminating in a scintillating five-set performance against former world champion Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

Tien had already won three ATP Challengers to reach his ranking. But the enigmatic Medvedev, known for stymieing most players on the ATP Tour, was the biggest moment of his young career. A year earlier, Medvedev was just a few steps away from lifting the trophy Down Under, and suddenly he was confounded by a 19-year-old southpaw who stood 5’11”.

Was it unexpected at the time? Certainly. But 52 weeks later, Tien finds herself in a whole new position. The reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion is 5-4 against Top-10 opposition and three weeks removed from a career-high No. 26 in the world. Medvedev’s victory was clearly no fluke. In fact, the 20-year-old will get another chance to upset Medvedev on Sunday on the same track where he completed his stunner at 2.54am.

“This year there are many different circumstances than last year. A year later I think I am a lot more mature as a person and as a player,” Tien told ATPtour.com. “I think I’ve become a lot more alone in the last year. I’ve become a lot more independent and I think I’ve just gotten more used to life, traveling alone more and I think that’s made me grow as a person as much as I did as a player.”

With players like Tien and Joao Fonseca taking the ATP Tour by storm at such a young age, it’s easy to forget how young they really are. Tien is still a 20-year-old who would have attended the University of Southern California, where he played for a semester, if he hadn’t turned pro early. He would have sat in class with his friends and lived the life of a typical student.

Instead, Tien travels the world entertaining millions of fans and competing against the biggest stars in the sport all year round.

“I think I’ve gradually come to accept that this is my life and hopefully this will continue to be my life for years to come,” Tien said. “It’s been gradual, I’ve gotten used to it. I wouldn’t say I woke up one morning and suddenly felt like this was my life and everything was integrated into my life. But I think over the past year I’ve gradually come to terms with it [being] the new normal and I have accepted that.”

The ‘new normal’ on the field really started in Melbourne. Tien’s performance in the fourth round was simply a sign of things to come. The only difference is that the southpaw is now taking with him the lessons he learned from his first full season on the ATP Tour, especially after bringing former world No. 2 Michael Chang to his team midway through last season.

“I think I’m better everywhere. I wouldn’t say I play drastically different,” Tien said. “I’d like to think maybe I’m a little less of a go-getter now. I think this year’s experience has been good for me and I think I’ve obviously improved a lot, but I wouldn’t say I’m a completely different player.”

One of the reasons Tien felt so comfortable competing against high-level players early in his career is that he has been dealing with top players for much of his tennis life. When the American conducted his post-match media interviews on Friday, one of his stops was at ESPN, where former world number 11 Sam Querrey was at the desk.

Producers rolled out old footage of a young Tien hitting balls with Querrey. Apprentice would be around Querrey and Steve Johnson in Carson since before he was a teenager.

“Sam and I started hitting him when he was 12 or 13, and he was always off to the side or in the corner,” Johnson said. “Even at that age, you could just tell something was different because our ball didn’t affect him as much as most 12-, 13-year-old kids. His timing was unbelievable.”

Johnson raved about Tien as a person. Yes, the former world number 21 was – and still is – very impressed with his physical tennis skills. But he was more in awe of the way Tien behaved around professionals at such a young age.

“He always seemed to enjoy the moment when he was there, even with Carson at a young age. There were a lot of times where it probably wasn’t that fun for him because he was just a young kid doing what Sam and I needed him to do,” Johnson said. “But we could tell there was something different in the way he hit the ball, in his movements and in his behavior. He was always quiet, but positive, never negative and just took everything you gave him and usually gave it back with interest.”

By the time Tien was 15 or 16 years old, he started playing base points with Johnson and Querrey, old pros who were still competing at the top of the sport.

“It all felt almost 50-50 at that point. That’s how good he was,” Johnson remembers. “We got the serve involved and that was going to be a bit difficult for him at that age, but that’s just part of the game.

“He was such a good striker with the tennis ball and can’t wait to see what he will do in the future. He has already achieved so much in his young career and the sky is the limit, especially with Michael [Chang] on the bag. Now he’s just going to leave no stone unturned. His work ethic is incredible. I watch him work and every time I see him – he comes through LA every few months – I see him practice and play, and every time he comes back something impresses me: he just keeps getting better and better.