Irvine’s Tien learning how to win on the big stage

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — While American tennis fans wait for their next men’s Grand Slam champion, hoping it’s Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton or Tommy Paul, keep the name Learner Tien in mind when you contemplate a potential breakthrough against Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, the game’s top two players at the moment.

The 20-year-old left-hander from Irvine is enjoying a meteoric rise in the rankings. A year ago, Tien was No. 736 in the ATP computer. Going into the BNP Paribas Open, he is 27th in the world and has been high as No. 23 after a quarterfinal run at this year’s Australian Open. His ceiling is very high and he could very well be the American male player who finally captures a Slam since Andy Roddick last did it in 2003 at the U.S. Open.

Tien is not thinking about bridging that 23-year Grand Slam gap. He’d be happy just having an extended stay at Indian Wells. He got off to a good start Friday, defeating Australia’s Adam Walton 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8) in a true test of wills on Stadium Court 3 as the second round got underway at the Indian Hills Tennis Garden.

“It’s still surreal to be here as a player,” Tien said prior to his first match, where he was seeded 25th in the field. “I wasn’t here very long last year.

”It means a lot. This is a tournament I really want to win, and just being an American, especially being from California, this is a very important tournament for me, a tournament I always want to perform well at. So, you know, obviously it’s early in the tournament. Still, just getting my first win here means a lot.”

This time, he gets to stick around a little longer. His reward? A date with fellow American lefty and No. 8 seed Shelton. Shelton moved on, beating Reilly Opelka in three sets.

Tien is being coached by Michael Chang, who won the French Open in 1989 and was a finalist three other times in Grand Slam events. Las Vegas tennis fans may recall that Chang lived in Henderson during part of his playing career. Together, they seem to be partnering well as Tien looks to make his ascent into the game’s elite.

Whatever lessons he has learned from Chang served him well Friday. It was a battle from the first ball against Walton, who serves big and isn’t afraid to take chances. Tien had to survive 11 aces off Walton’s racquet and his return percentage was just 34 percent. But Tien had nine aces of his own and Walton’s return game netted only a 28 percent rate.

Tien made two key adjustments during the match. He started out playing way back of the baseline, then came much closer to the line as it gave him more opportunities to place his returns. The other adjustment was he opted to come to the net more and he was able to secure several points as a result.

“Yeah, I mean, I didn’t really notice that, honestly,” he said of the adjustments. “If I did that, that was probably a bit more subconscious.

“It was a little windy out there, so I was trying to adjust with that too. I thought he was serving very well. Especially in the wind, I thought he was serving great for the conditions.

“It was just a tricky match. You know, it was kind of back and forth. I was able to snag the second but still could have gone either way in the second. I was just trying to give him different looks, especially on return, throw him off a little bit.”

For a young player, being able to think his way through a match isn’t always easy. But to Tien’s credit, he was able to figure things out on his own and prevail in the end.

“I think I do a good job of finding my way through these matches, problem-solving when I’m not playing my absolute best,” he said. “ I think it’s really good for me, because I get to play through these matches where I could be down, could be losing, and I’m not playing phenomenal, but just problem-solving and trying to find a way through these matches I think is great for me in the long run.”

It’s evidence of the growth in his overall game and his rise in the rankings. He still has a ways to go to be on the same plane as the top players in the sport. But his trajectory is on the right path and experiences like Friday’s can only help him down the road.

“You know, it just builds my confidence that I can make it through these matches, you know, when I’m not feeling my best,” Tien said. “I think, in general, it just gives me a lot of confidence moving forward into this match and throughout the rest of the year that a lot of these matches I have played this year I have been down and I have been able to come back, and just feeling like no matter how I feel when I step out on the court I can, most of the time, find a way to come through.”