Remember how a 19-year-old American surprised everyone by becoming the first American teenager to win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999? Coco Gauff became the talk of the town by defeating several big names on her way to the title triumph at the 2023 US Open. Recently, yet another 19-year-old has managed to establish himself as one of the promising stars in American tennis with his impressive wins. Although he has yet to win a major title, he has now already secured his fourth Top-10 victory in 2025.

Learner Tien, earlier this year, stunned everyone by defeating Daniil Medvedev and Alexander in two consecutive months. His straight-sets victory against Zverev at the Mexican Open had made him the youngest man to beat a Top 3 player since 2022. Reacting to his performance against Medvedev in the second round of the 2025 AO, John McEnroe said, “I think he is going to be a formidable force. He is not a particularly big guy, but he sure takes the ball early and hits a clean ball. I like what I am seeing from Tien right now.” Tien is currently ranked 67th in the world, and his win-loss record is 11-15. His best records this season were reaching the fourth round at the AO and making it to the QFs at the Mexican Open and the Mallorca Championships.

However, he’s now just one win away from making yet another QF in 2025! Learner Tien recently outclassed the world number 10, Andrey Rublev, by 7-5,6-2 in the R32 of the Citi Open. He frustrated Rublev with his brickwall consistency and craftiness, drawing 43 unforced errors from the Russian. Reacting to his incredible victory against the Top 10 opponent, Coco Gauff’s ex-coach tweeted, “Another impressive win for fast 💨 Lerner taking out Rubles @mubadalacitidc his 3rd top 10 win on the year 😎👍💪👌👊.“

Before this, his previous Top 10 win came against America’s Ben Shelton at the Mallorca Championships. However, this wasn’t the first time that we’ve seen Coco Gauff’s former coach, Gilbert, heaping praise on this young lad, though! After his win against Medvedev at the 2025 AO, Gilbert had tweeted, “Holy Toledo just seeing score, Tien takes out Meedy bear 🐻 in 5th set breaker that’s the 3rd player from Next gen event last month to beat a top 10 player.”

Later on, after seeing his match against Matteo Arnaldi at the Delray Beach Open, Brad Gilbert admired his forehand skills, “got a very sneaky forehand.” Although Tien lost the match in three sets, he won the hearts of many with his incredible brand of tennis.

Talking about his recent performance against Rublev, Coco Gauff‘s countryman displayed lightning-fast movement to retrieve Rublev’s heavy groundstrokes with ease. While speaking about his incredible footwork, Jannik Sinner’s coach said, “Tien’s footwork resembles a young Djokovic—he slides into shots, recovers instantly, and turns defense into winners.” Learner Tien’s signature inside-out forehand was the difference-maker in this match against the number 10. He hit 82% of his forehand shots deep into Rublev’s backhand corner.

Other than that, his calm and composed nature in crucial moments in this match helped him secure this massive victory against the Russian. Talking about his enormous mental strength, Sports Psychologist Dr. Larry Lauer once said, “His mental game is beyond his years. He doesn’t panic when down—he adjusts.”

Learner Tien’s composure in vital moments similar to Coco Gauff

Coco Gauff has been snatching victories from the jaws of defeat in do-or-die matches. Is Learner Tien following a similar route? Well, after his match against Andrey Rublev, the 19-year-old Tien revealed the secret to his success. He said, “Play aggressive and keep cool in key moments.”

His impressive performances over the last few months have gained him the attention of tennis bigwigs and also their praise. Earlier this year, while speaking on Learner Tien, Rennae Stubbs said exclaimed that it’d be great for him to get a lot of matches under his belt before it comes into the American tournaments, because she thinks Tien will attract a huge following. She believes that he’s extremely good. His coach, Eric Diaz, stated, “The kid’s a winner and he just finds different ways.”

Diaz spoke about how Tien always manages to stay really calm and find a way out in tricky moments in his matches. Speaking about Tien, his good friend and fellow rising star, Alex Michelsen, once admitted, “He was always better than everyone else. I remember my whole friend group, we were like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s Learner. He was always way better. He was 10, playing like 14 and 16 unders and doing just fine.”

Even Joao Fonseca tipped his hat at Learner Tien and had him pegged as the next top tennis talent in America. While speaking to the Russian media outlet, Bolshe in May this year, Daniil Medvedev was surprised to see Tien’s playing level in their match at the AO. Even Coco Gauff had created a similar buzz with her incredible talent in the early phases of her career! Can he match her level? Will he win his next match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina? Remains to be seen.