Learner Tien gives the reason he wouldn’t watch tennis growing up and found it boring

Learner Tien is one of the best men’s tennis players in the world, but he has not always enjoyed watching the sport.

Tien has enjoyed the best season of his career so far in 2026, with the American winning his second ATP title in Geneva, reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals and the Canadian Open semi-finals.

This has enabled him to become a top 20 player and one of the most exciting to watch, with even Roger Federer being a fan of Tien’s.

While many enjoy watching Tien on court, he has now explained why he has not always enjoyed watching tennis himself.

Learner Tien admits he would ‘zone out’ watching tennis matches

Tien appeared on the latest edition of The Big T Podcast, where he admitted that he found tennis ‘too slow’ to watch when he was growing up and would often ‘zone out’ when watching matches. Instead Tien would prefer watching highlights, naming the now-retired Gael Monfils as someone he enjoyed watching.

One of the main reasons Tien did not enjoy watching tennis was due to the changeovers, but this is something he has explained he is grateful to have now as a player on the ATP Tour.

“I did not watch much tennis growing up,” said Tien. “It was kind of boring to me, it was too slow. I think the changeovers and the breaks, it just wasn’t engaging enough for me. I would watch the Slams and the big matches where I knew this is an important match, but even with some of those matches I would zone out and I wouldn’t really watch.

“I liked watching Monfils a lot, but I was more of a here and there highlight watcher. I never was a guy to sit down and watch the whole match.

“I would say when I was young the reason I didn’t like watching tennis in person and on TV was because the changeovers were very long and I had to wait in between points. But now playing I would not want any of those things to be shorter because that is my break. A minute and a half feels very short now but back then it was like an eternity. I would just turn the TV off.”

How many tournaments will Learner Tien play before the end of the season?

Tien has enjoyed a very successful season, but he now has just one tournament left to play in singles after losing to Alex de Minaur at the Vienna Open.

The final tournament of Tien’s 2026 season will be the Paris Masters, where he made his debut in 2025. Last year, Tien lost in just the second round in the French capital to Andrey Rublev, but he will have a greater advantage at this year’s tournament.

As a result of his climb up the rankings, Tien will be seeded at this year’s Paris Masters, meaning that he will avoid other seeded players until at least the third round.

Although Tien does not have many points to defend from this year’s Paris Masters, he does have pressure to perform well at his final tournament of the 2026 season. That is because Tien will be dropping 250 points from winning his first ATP title last year in Metz, an event that no longer exists on the calendar.

If Tien does not perform well at the Paris Masters then he could drop outside the top 20, with the final ATP 1000 tournament of the year getting underway on Monday, November 2.