Learner Tien’s ‘victory royale’ sets him up for promising 2025

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Updated 21 December 2024
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Learner Tien’s ‘victory royale’ sets him up for promising 2025

Learner Tien’s ‘victory royale’ sets him up for promising 2025
  • American teenager to face good friend and compatriot Michelsen in Jeddah Next Gen semifinals

JEDDAH: As American teenager Learner Tien wrapped up a four-set victory over Arthur Fils on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah, his next opponent, Alex Michelsen, rose to his feet on the sidelines to applaud his good friend and point to a message printed on the back of his sweatshirt: “Victory Royale” — a nod to the hours he and Tien have spent playing the video game Fortnite together.

“We play a lot together. So it’s kind of a joke,” Tien told Arab News in Jeddah on Friday. “Our agent got us tracksuits that say it on the back. We both got different colors.”

Tien and Michelsen share more than just a love for video games and matching tracksuits. They have trained at the same academy in Irvine, California for the past four years under the tutelage of Jay Leavitt and Eric Diaz, and share the same agent, Mats Merkel of IMG.

Their friendship will briefly take a backseat when they square off in Jeddah on Saturday evening, as they vie for a spot in the final at the prestigious 20-and-under tournament.

“It’s really cool I think,” said Tien. “I’ve been telling him that we are going to play at this tournament for a while. We’ve played, obviously, before, but never at the professional level. I think he’s 2-1 on me in singles. He tries to count doubles and say it’s 4-1, but I only count singles; so he’s up one on me right now.”

Despite missing three months of action earlier this season due to a fractured rib, Tien has amassed a 62-13 win-loss record over 2024 across all levels, including a trio of titles on the Challenger Tour.

He started the season ranked 473 in the world and hit a career-high mark of 114 last month to position himself as one of the top Next Gen players on the men’s professional circuit.

When he returned from his injury layoff in May, he won a stunning 28 matches in a row across six different tournaments, setting the tone for a strong finish to the season here in Jeddah.

“I think a lot of things changed for him mentally when he got injured,” Diaz told Arab News on Friday. “He matured a lot, started working a lot harder, taking things a little bit more seriously — not that he didn’t prior, but you could see the maturity level change. He diligently worked, diligently analyzed what he needed to get better at and he really went after it.”

This isn’t the first time Tien has benefitted from taking a break from tennis. When the pandemic shut down the tour in 2020, it came at a time where Tien needed some time away from the sport to be a regular young teenager, although ‘regular’ might not necessarily be the right word, since during that hiatus, Tien managed to graduate from high school at the age of 15.

At 16, he won his first of two USTA U18 National Championships and at 17 he attended the University of Southern California for a semester before deciding to turn pro.

Asked if starting high school when he was just 11 years old helped him make such big leaps in professional tennis as a teenager, Tien said: “I honestly did all that early just because my mom was a teacher, so she started me in school early. I really didn’t want to, but I’m glad she did it now. Obviously, it’s great to have all that stuff out of the way so I can just focus on tennis, like I’ve wanted to for a while. Having school, there was an incentive for me to play tennis instead. I’m truly grateful that she started me young, but I definitely didn’t enjoy it.”

Although Tien always knew he was good at tennis — a sport he was introduced to by his parents — he admitted he “didn’t love it” early on.

“(But) I thought I’d put so much time into it already, it would be kind of a waste just to stop. I thought that when I was 10 or 11. Thought that even more when I was 13 or 14, like, ‘Oh, I’ve played even longer now, it will be a bigger waste if I stop now,’” he reflected. “Then, I eventually found that love for it and it’s taken me to where I am today.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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He says the breaks he took during the COVID pandemic and his injury this year have helped him “reset” and made him appreciate the sport even more.

“Obviously taking time away from tennis, you end up missing it a little bit, so when you come back, you’re a little bit more motivated and it’s kind of easier to go out there day in, day out, just because you’ve been away for a while,” he said. “I think that really helped — especially this year. Coming back, I was a lot more motivated to practice harder and work on a lot of things that needed some work and it inevitably ended up helping me a lot.”

This is the first time Tien has competed in a tournament outside the US at the professional level and he’s excited to continue that trend when he heads to Hong Kong for the official start of his 2025 season, before flying to Melbourne for the Australian Open.

Previous Next Gen ATP Finals participants and champions have gone on to achieve great things on the tour, with the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner both claiming Grand Slam titles and topping the world rankings not long after their participation.

“I think it’s cool to know that you’re following in their footsteps, going down a similar path to people that have had so much success — even recent winners having a lot of success,” said Tien.

“It’s definitely cool to feel like you’re doing the right thing and you’re taking the right steps to get to that level someday. But I don’t think there’s any pressure that comes with it.”

As he looks to enjoy his first full season at the ATP level in 2025, Tien is bracing himself for change, knowing he’ll be facing new challenges. Not only will the competition level get higher, he’ll also have to learn to adjust to a different calendar that features multiple surface changes, and a great deal of international travel.

His coach Diaz believes stepping up physically will be key for this next chapter of Tien’s tennis journey.

“The jump from the Futures to the Challengers, the difference is the physicality. And then the jump from the Challengers to the main tour is obviously physicality. Learner definitely has the footspeed, the hand speed… but continuing to develop and to become a man, he’s going to have to get stronger,” said Diaz.

Michelsen, who is a year older than Tien, has already made that leap to the ATP Tour and is ranked a career-high 41 in the world.

Diaz is aware both Tien and Michelsen will likely be facing off at tournaments more often moving forward, which will be an interesting dynamic given they share the same team.

“It’s really cool. Both Jay and I, it’s honestly something we never really thought would happen years ago when we started all of it. It’s a surreal moment,” said Diaz, looking ahead to the semifinal in Jeddah.  

“Both of those boys have worked incredibly hard. They’ve pushed each other to get better and to improve. So to be on a stage like this now — and to have a guarantee one of them is in the final — is a pretty cool moment.

“Hopefully it does continue to happen, because I think that means they’re both continuing to push each other to get better. It would be an interesting thing. I’m not sure that either one of them would be there if it wasn’t for the other one. We’re big (believers that) iron sharpens iron. So it’s gone well.”


Australia send England in to bat in Champions Trophy match in Lahore

Australia send England in to bat in Champions Trophy match in Lahore
Updated 22 February 2025
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Australia send England in to bat in Champions Trophy match in Lahore

Australia send England in to bat in Champions Trophy match in Lahore
  • Australia have included three fast bowlers with Adam Zampa as frontline spinner
  • England included wicketkeeper batter Jamie Smith with three frontline fast bowlers

LAHORE: Australian captain Steve Smith won the toss and opted to field against England in the Champions Trophy Group B match in Lahore on Saturday.
Australia, depleted by the absence of pace trio Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood who are all out of the tournament, have included three fast bowlers with Adam Zampa as frontline spinner.
England included wicketkeeper batter Jamie Smith with three frontline fast bowlers and a lone specialist spinner in Adil Rashid.
South Africa, who beat Afghanistan by 107 runs on Friday, are the other team in Group B.
Title-holders Pakistan, India, New Zealand and Bangladesh comprise Group A. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals.
TEAMS
Australia: Steve Smith (captain), Travis Head, Matthew Short, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa, Spencer Johnson
England: Jos Buttler (captain), Ben Duckett, Phil Salt, Jamie Smith, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Brydon Carse, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood


Cavaliers crush Knicks in battle of NBA East elite

Cavaliers crush Knicks in battle of NBA East elite
Updated 22 February 2025
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Cavaliers crush Knicks in battle of NBA East elite

Cavaliers crush Knicks in battle of NBA East elite
  • Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures
  • Cleveland out-scored the Knicks 66-38 in the paint and held a 23-6 edge in fast-break points

LOS ANGELES, United States: The Cleveland Cavaliers boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks on Friday, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display.
Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc.
Cleveland out-scored the Knicks 66-38 in the paint and held a 23-6 edge in fast-break points, pushing their lead to as many as 42 on the way to a sixth straight victory.
Evan Mobley added 21 points and Jarrett Allen scored 10 before departing in the third quarter with a right hand injury.
Cleveland guard Darius Garland took a hard fall in the first half, striking his head on the court, but stayed in the game.
Jalen Brunson scored 16 of his 26 points in the first quarter for the Knicks but was held scoreless in the second period as the Cavs roared to a 77-50 halftime lead.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 23 points for New York, who are in third place in the East but fell to 0-6 this season against the three teams with the league’s best records: Cleveland, Boston and Oklahoma City.
“I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with the fact that they could yet meet in this post-season.
“For us, it’s about how do we continue to build and get better – we may see them in the playoffs,” Mitchell said. “So we’re trying to measure ourselves, continue to do what we’ve been doing.”
It came down to the wire in Orlando, where Memphis star Ja Morant drove for a layup that tied it at 104-104 with 1:50 remaining and Desmond Bane delivered the decisive free-throw in the Grizzlies’ 105-104 victory over the Magic.
Morant scored 23 points while Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 16 apiece for the Grizzlies, with Jackson blocking a potential game-winner by Orlando’s Paolo Banchero at the buzzer.
Milwaukee’s trade-deadline acquisition Kyle Kuzma scored 19 points to lead the Bucks to a 104-101 victory over his former team, the Washington Wizards.
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was limited by foul trouble and scored 18 points before fouling out with 3:37 left to play.
Khris Middleton, who arrived in Washington in the four-team deal that sent Kuzma to Milwaukee, scored 12 points against his former team in his Wizards debut.
Down by 10 with 4:53 to play, the Wizards cut the deficit to 102-101 on Middleton’s three-pointer with 1:01 remaining.
But Brook Lopez made a pair of free-throws and blocked a Middleton layup, with Middleton coming up empty again on a last-gasp three-point attempt.


Champions Spain fight back in Women’s Nations League opener, England held

Champions Spain fight back in Women’s Nations League opener, England held
Updated 22 February 2025
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Champions Spain fight back in Women’s Nations League opener, England held

Champions Spain fight back in Women’s Nations League opener, England held
  • The Netherlands were indebted to two goals from Lineth Beerensteyn for a 2-2 draw with Germany in Breda
  • France, runners-up to Spain in 2024, edged out Norway 1-0 in Toulouse thanks to a 73rd-minute goal from Marie-Antoinette Katoto

PARIS: Spain kicked off their Women’s Nations League title defense by fighting back to snatch a thrilling 3-2 win over Belgium on Friday while European champions England were held to a 1-1 draw in Portugal.

In Valencia, Mariam Toloba gave Belgium a surprise early lead against 2023 World Cup winners Spain and Tessa Wullaert struck a second in the 72nd minute.

Spain, who will be among the favorites at Euro 2025 this summer, where they will face Belgium again, pulled a goal back through Claudia Pina to spark their comeback.

Lucia Garcia levelled in stoppage time and Benfica’s Cristina Martin-Prieto blasted home with virtually the final touch of the game to complete the job.

Spain were without injured two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, as well as World Cup star Jenni Hermoso, whom coach Montse Tome did not call up.

The 34-year-old won her sexual assault case against disgraced former Spanish football federation chief Luis Rubiales this week.

Belgium coach Elisabet Gunnarsdottir was taking charge of her first match at the helm, in which she could not have asked for a tougher challenge.

In Euro 2025 qualifying last year Spain thumped Belgium 9-0 across the two games.

“I’m very happy, the group deserved it. We had to get the three points here,” said Spain’s match-winner Martin-Prieto, who was a late call-up after Amaiur Sarriegi was injured.

In the same section, England and Portugal finished level at 1-1 in Portimao.

Alessio Russo gave England a 15th-minute lead with a close-range tap-in from a cross by Lucy Bronze.

However, they were pegged back with 14 minutes left when substitute Kika Nazareth deservedly equalized after beating Grace Clinton before curling the ball into the corner of the net.

“They scored a great goal but we could’ve done better there,” said England coach Sarina Wiegman whose team will defend their European title in Switzerland later this year.

“I’m not thinking about the Euros. I’m just thinking about next Wednesday against Spain. It will be a tough game and we’ll try to win it.”

In a repeat of last year’s third place playoff, the Netherlands were indebted to two goals from Lineth Beerensteyn for a 2-2 draw with Germany in Breda.

Germany won the playoff in 2024 by 2-0 to qualify for the Paris Olympics where they went on to secure the bronze medal.

On Friday, Beerensteyn, who plays club football in Germany for Wolfsburg, saw her 15th-minute opener equalized by Lea Schueller on the stroke of halftime.

Sjoeke Nuesken edged Germany in front five minutes into the second period after being set-up by Jule Brand before Beerensteyn, the top scorer in last season’s tournament, made sure of a point for the Dutch in the 66th minute with a header from Chastity Grant’s cross.

France, runners-up to Spain in 2024, edged out Norway 1-0 in Toulouse thanks to a 73rd-minute goal from Marie-Antoinette Katoto.

The match saw Eugenie Le Sommer come off the bench to equal Sandrine Soubeyrand’s record of 198 caps for France.


Andreeva downs Rybakina in Dubai to become youngest WTA 1000 finalist

Andreeva downs Rybakina in Dubai to become youngest WTA 1000 finalist
Updated 22 February 2025
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Andreeva downs Rybakina in Dubai to become youngest WTA 1000 finalist

Andreeva downs Rybakina in Dubai to become youngest WTA 1000 finalist
  • Andreeva is the youngest player to beat multiple Grand Slam champions at a tournament of this level, having ousted Iga Swiatek, Marketa Vondrousova, and now Rybakina, en route to the final
  • She will face Clara Tauson in Saturday’s final after the Danish world No. 38 moved past Karolina Muchova 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 in a two-hour 52-minute tussle

DUBAI: Teenager Mirra Andreeva toppled another seed at the Dubai Championships, upsetting Elena Rybakina on Friday to become the youngest player to reach the final of a WTA 1000 tournament.

The Russian 17-year-old fought back from 1-3 down in the deciding set to beat sixth-seeded Rybakina 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and move into the first WTA 1000 final of her career.

Andreeva is the youngest player to beat multiple Grand Slam champions at a tournament of this level, having ousted Iga Swiatek, Marketa Vondrousova, and now Rybakina, en route to the final.

She will face Clara Tauson in Saturday’s final after the Danish world No. 38 moved past Karolina Muchova 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 in a two-hour 52-minute tussle.

“Honestly, it’s crazy because at first I was not very positive before coming to Dubai. I was like, ‘Okay, well, I’m just going to play’,” said Andreeva.

“As always, when you don’t think about how you’re going to play, you just play your best tennis. In the end, it’s one of your best tournaments.”

Tauson, 22, is enjoying a banner week that saw her knock out world number one Aryna Sabalenka. She is now through to the biggest final of her career, and fifth overall.

Tauson has collected a tour-leading 15 victories so far this season, one more than Swiatek and Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who each have 14.

“Muchova is such a great player. I don’t know what to say, I don’t know how I won today. I tried to keep my cool and play some good tennis,” said Tauson, who was on the receiving end of a stunning tweener lob winner struck by Muchova midway through the deciding set.

In the first semifinal of the day, a punishing backhand return from Andreeva earned her the first break of the match in game five and despite Rybakina’s immediate response, the young Russian got back in front and closed out the opening set on the 46-minute mark.

Having already saved six match points in her win over Paula Badosa in the round of 16, Rybakina looked ready to put up a fight against Andreeva and the second set was a tight affair.

The pair remained neck and neck until Rybakina found an opening when Andreeva double-faulted to face two set points at 4-5. Andreeva bounced the ball off the ground in frustration and received a code violation warning for ball abuse.

Moments later, former Wimbledon champion Rybakina took the match into a decider on a long defensive forehand from her opponent, as Andreeva dropped her first set of the tournament.

Rybakina made the first move in the third, breaking for a 3-1 advantage but Andreeva reacted and swept the next five games to wrap up the win in two hours and 15 minutes.

Andreeva will rise to a career-high No. 11 in the world by virtue of reaching the final and could become the first 17-year-old to break the top 10 since Nicole Vaidisova achieved that feat in 2007 if she lifts the trophy on Saturday.

She made her tour debut less than two years ago but has quickly positioned herself as a star in the making with a great deal of pressure on her shoulders.

“Now I have some kind of pressure that people are expecting some things from me. People are saying, ‘She’s going to be No. 1, she’s going to win the Slams. She’s going to be great’,” explained Andreeva.

She says she’s been working with her psychologist to adopt the right mentality when dealing with such pressure.

“It’s easier for me to think these people are saying this because probably they are afraid of the way I play,” added Andreeva.

“It helps me to go on the court with kind of anger, not to prove to everyone that I really can do it, but to prove myself that I’m strong enough to handle the pressure and to really win these high-quality matches.”


Rublev in third Qatar Open final, faces Draper for title

Rublev in third Qatar Open final, faces Draper for title
Updated 22 February 2025
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Rublev in third Qatar Open final, faces Draper for title

Rublev in third Qatar Open final, faces Draper for title
  • Rublev: It took everything. It was super tough today
  • Left-handed Draper will be seeking his third career title but will have to overturn a losing 3-0 head-to-head record to depose the Russian

DOHA: Russia’s Andrey Rublev reached his third Qatar Open final on Friday after a “super tough” three-set triumph over Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.

Fifth-seeded Rublev, the 2020 champion at the Gulf tournament, battled to a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) win over Auger-Aliassime, who fired down 21 aces in the two-hour, 47-minute semfinal.

“It took everything. It was super tough today,” said Rublev whose most recent final appearance was in Montreal last August.

“I felt like there was not much I can do if he is serving like that. I just needed to be really lucky to break him. He was serving well and I was just saying, ‘Okay, I cannot do much, this is one of the best servers on Tour. I just need to try to guess and when I have a moment, just go for it’.”

Rublev, who was also a runner-up in Doha in 2018, secured victory on Friday on a fourth match point. In his quarterfinal dismissal of second seed Alex de Minaur on Thursday, he had needed twice as many.

The Russian won the last of his 16 ATP titles on clay in Madrid in May 2024.

On Saturday, the 27-year-old will tackle British eighth seed Jack Draper for the title.

Draper defeated Carlos Alcaraz’s conquerer Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 on the back of 14 aces to reach his fifth final.

Left-handed Draper will be seeking his third career title but will have to overturn a losing 3-0 head-to-head record to depose the Russian.

The 23-year-old is already assured of attaining the best ranking of his career after this week.

A US Open semifinalist in 2024, Draper will rise from 16 in the world to 11 if he wins the Qatar title and 12th as runner-up.