Hailing from Irvine, California, Learner Tien is the latest American name to make waves on the pro tennis scene. He’s still just 19, but Tien has already built a resume that demands attention. Earlier this year, he stunned the tennis world by qualifying for the Australian Open and knocking out Daniil Medvedev in the second round. That dream run didn’t stop there; he made it all the way to the fourth round. Now, he’s off to a winning start at Wimbledon too.

The wins have kept coming for the American lefty. He added top-10 wins over Alexander Zverev at the Mexican Open and Ben Shelton last week in Mallorca. That momentum has pushed him to a career-high ranking of world No. 62. He has carried that momentum to Wimbledon. In his main draw debut on Monday, Tien produced a composed 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-2 win over fellow American teenager Nishesh Basavareddy. It wasn’t all smooth sailing. Tien trailed 2-5 in the first set and had to save four set points, but he turned things around with maturity and calm. His growing experience clearly made a difference.

It helps that the All England Club is familiar territory for him. Tien twice reached the quarterfinals in the junior event here. This year, he’s officially a main draw winner on Centre Court’s hallowed grass.

To put that in perspective, even Pete Sampras couldn’t say the same at 19. The seven-time Wimbledon champion lost in the first round in 1990, falling to Christo van Rensburg. His breakthrough came later that year at the US Open, where he captured his first Slam title. Jim Courier was the more successful American teen that year at SW19, reaching the third round. A few years earlier, John McEnroe had pulled off something even bigger. He made the semifinals in 1977 at just 19, becoming the youngest male semifinalist at Wimbledon in a hundred years.

Andre Agassi, on the other hand, waited until 1991 to return to Wimbledon after skipping it early in his career. He was 21 when he reached the quarterfinals that year.

That’s the kind of legacy Tien will be chasing. Making it to the main tour has been a long time coming for him, even if he wasn’t sure where tennis would take him from the beginning.

Learner Tien opens up about his tennis journey

The lefty from Irvine has come a long way since his early days, though tennis was never the family’s main focus. His parents, immigrants from Vietnam, named him Learner after his mother, a teacher. His sister is named Justice, after their father’s profession as a lawyer. Both kids were homeschooled by their mom. “I started when I was little older than one,” Learner Tien says. “I think [it was] one of my dad’s old rackets that were lying around. So they didn’t really even expect for me or my sister to start playing tennis that young. So it’s not like they were prepped with little kiddy rackets or anything.”

His earliest memories of tennis were casual and unstructured. “My parents would play recreationally. I got to the courts a couple times a week, just with my dad, just watching him play in random men’s leagues. So that’s kind of how I got introduced. Eventually my dad started taking me to the courts, randomly feeding me balls from a pretty young age, and then it kind of just progressed from there on.”

Now, Tien’s game is progressing fast. Up next is a tricky matchup with Chile’s Nicolas Jarry, a former top-20 player who had to qualify this year. Jarry pulled off a huge upset in round one, beating eighth seed Holger Rune in five sets. He’s come this far by staying calm and hitting clean. Can he do it again? Follow the Championships in real-time with EssentiallySports’ Live Blog updates.