With Rafael Nadal watching on, Learner Tien wins Next Gen ATP Finals

A year after falling just short of winning the Next Gen ATP Finals, American Learner Tien finished what he started on Sunday in Jeddah. The top-seeded American defeated Belgium's Alexander Blockx 4-3(4), 4-2, 4-1 in the final at King Abdullah Sports City to cement his status as one of the most impressive young talents in men's tennis.

Tien came into the under-20 year-end tournament as the firm title favorite, with his ranking of world No. 28 far bettering that of anyone else in the field by almost triple digits. (Blockx, seeded No. 2, came into the tournament ranked No. 116.) But the American's title hopes were dealt an early blow when he didn't covert any of four match points in an opening round-robin loss to Spain's Rafael Jodar, and had a upward climb to reach the semifinals.

But he dug deep from there, coming from a set behind to win his two other group-stage matches. He then didn't lose a set in the knockout rounds to become the third top seed to win the title, following in the footsteps of Stefanos Tsitsipas (2018) and Carlos Alcaraz (2021), and the second American after Brandon Nakashima (2022).

With Rafael Nadal watching on, the young left-hander was a combination of clutch and ruthless that the 22-time major winner was known for himself in 58 minutes.

Though Blockx didn't miss a first serve in the first set, Tien was steady when it mattered most to steal the first-set tiebreak. He cruised from then on, and only faced break points when he served for the match in the third set. He saved both.

"I've been waiting to hold this trophy for the past year," Tien confessed in his victory speech.

“I was able to check a lot of boxes that I wanted to this year," he added. "I had a pretty long list of goals I wanted to hit, and I was able to get most of them. I’m really happy.”

Tien's year-end title adds to a 2025 campaign that saw him win his first ATP tour-level title in Metz, score five Top 10 victories, reach the second week of the Australian Open, and break the Top 100, Top 50 and Top 30 in the rankings.