REVEALED: WHY LEARNER TIEN’S $1.7M CAREER EARNINGS MAKE HIM THE RICHEST 20-YEAR-OLD STAR.
Learner Tien pockets a career-high $502,250 after dismantling Alexander Blockx to win the ATP Next Gen Finals.
Learner Tien snagged the biggest payday of his career by beating Alexander Blockx of Belgium 4-3(4), 4-2, 4-1 at the ATP Next Gen Finals in Jeddah.
Tien came into the final ATP Tour event of the year as the frontrunner. Even though he's already broken through to the top level, he still chose to play in the Next Gen Finals.
The American ended the regular season with a career-high ranking of No. 28, so he was almost too good for a tournament meant to show off rising stars.
Still, he handled the pressure of being the top player and had a convincing win against Blockx.
"I knew it would be a tough one," Tien said. I don’t think he missed a first serve for the first set and a half.
I think he's been playing great, so I’m just really happy to get through.
I’m thrilled. I knocked off a lot of things I wanted to do this year. I had a pretty long list of goals, and I got to most of them. I’m really happy.”
Tien was inspired again by his coach, Michael Chang. Though he mentioned that the former French Open champ doesn't usually give a ton of advice during matches.
“I don’t think he’s a coach that says a lot during matches, but when he feels like I need to hear something, he’s never shy about telling me, and I think that helps me a lot,” Tien said about his coach.
Tien could have won a huge $539,750 if he had won the ATP Next Gen Finals without a loss, but he missed out on the bonus because he lost his first match against Rafael Jodar of Spain in the group phase.
He bounced back from that to shine in the final and walked away with a big $502,250, making it the most profitable week of his career.
That money really boosts Tien’s overall career prize money to $1,743,311. He turned 20 earlier this month, so now he's got a financial cushion as he gets ready to make his mark in the 2026 season.
After confirming this year that he can hang with the best with five wins against top ten-ranked players, Tien is looking like someone to watch next season.
He's taken down Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Ben Shelton, Andrey Rublev, and Lorenzo Musetti this year. Since he'll be one of the lower-ranked seeds at the Australian Open next month, the big names will want to avoid him in the draw.
JANNIK SINNER CHARGES TOWARD SUNSHINE DOUBLE WITH STRAIGHT SETS MIAMI OPEN VICTORY
Jannik Sinner cruises past Damir Dzumhur in Miami, chasing the Sunshine Double just days after his Indian Wells win.
Jannik Sinner, ranked number two in the world, got off to an easy start at the Miami Open on Saturday. Just six days after taking home the Indian Wells trophy, Sinner walked onto the court looking confident and picked up a straightforward 6-3, 6-3 win over Damir Dzumhur, who's ranked 76th.
“First-round matches are never easy,” Sinner admitted. He’s fresh off beating Daniil Medvedev for his first Indian Wells title, and now he's chasing the “Sunshine Double", hoping to sweep Indian Wells and Miami, something nobody’s pulled off since Federer did it in 2017.
Sinner grabbed the first set in just half an hour, broke Dzumhur early in the second, and finished the match with a sharp backhand. He stayed aggressive throughout, dropping only eight points on his serve even though he confessed he had little time to adjust after Indian Wells. “It’s very different here,” he said.
Medvedev, last year’s Miami runner-up, barely had time to settle in either but came back from a set down to beat Rei Sakamoto, an impressive 19-year-old wildcard from Japan, 6-7 (10/12), 6-3, 6-1.
Jakub Mensik, last year’s champion, had a rough start thanks to lingering illness and the pressure of defending his title. He lost the first set to Adam Walton but then turned it around and won 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. “The first set was horrible from my side,” Mensik said. He regrouped quickly, got an early break in set two, and held steady from there. “It was hard to get back in rhythm,” Mensik said. “I’m really happy mentally; I held tough and didn’t let the pressure get me.”
Alexander Zverev, seeded fourth, cruised through with a comfortable win over Martin Damm, 6-2, 6-4. But Ben Shelton, the eighth seed and the local favourite, was upset by Alexander Shevchenko from Kazakhstan, losing 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/3), and 6-3.
On the women’s side, Coco Gauff, seeded fourth, fought back after dropping the first set and stormed past Alycia Parks 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.
Teen stars Mirra Andreeva and Victoria Mboko set up a fourth-round showdown, their third meeting this season. Andreeva, just 18, took out Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (7/4), 6-2. Mboko, 19, handled Anastasia Zakharova 6-1, 7-5. They’ve split their past two matches. Andreeva beat Mboko in January at Adelaide, but Mboko turned the tables in Doha, saving a match point and reaching the final.
Alexandra Eala, who made waves last year with her surprise run to the semifinals, powered into the last 16 with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) win over Magda Linette. Linette had knocked out Iga Swiatek, world number three, in the previous round.
As the rain finally let up and play caught up, Jessica Pegula, last year’s finalist, advanced easily; her opponent Francesca Jones retired while Pegula was leading 6-1, 3-0.
Australian qualifier Talia Gibson stayed hot. After her quarter-final run in Indian Wells, she stunned Naomi Osaka, beating the four-time Grand Slam champ 7-5, 6-4.
THE MIAMI CHAOS: WHY WORLD NO 1 ARYNA SABALENKA WAS SHOCKED BY TOURNAMENT SCHEDULING
Aryna Sabalenka admits she was "really shocked" after being moved off the main court during a chaotic Miami Open opener.
Aryna Sabalenka didn’t hide her surprise about how the Miami Open scheduled her first match this year. She admitted she was “really shocked” by it all.
Sabalenka, ranked No. 1 in the world, beat Ann Li, who’s ranked 39th, 7-6(5), 6-4, in her second-round match at the Hard Rock Stadium. But the start of the Miami Open was a mess; rainstorms washed out all the action on Wednesday, and several Friday matches slid into Saturday because the weather just wouldn’t let up.
Friday got hit with more delays. Sabalenka’s match ended up being moved off the main stadium court to the smaller Butch Buchholz court – definitely not what a top seed expects. At her press conference, Sabalenka explained that tournament organisers actually gave her a choice: play right then on another court or move to Saturday.
“Well, honestly, I was shocked they even thought about cancelling my match just because of the schedule,” Sabalenka said. “And they were giving me a couple stadium options, and I thought, why can’t Alcaraz and Fonseca start a little later? Last night, the night session didn’t even start until nine, and Mirra Andreeva was still playing.”
She kept circling back to how odd it felt. “The idea of cancelling? I just didn’t expect it. But I decided I’d rather play today. If I win, I get a day off to rest and get myself together.”
Sabalenka laughed a little at the whole thing. “Yeah, I was really shocked, but I’m glad I at least got to pick what worked best for me.”
When someone asked why it caught her so off guard, she was straightforward: “I’ve never dealt with anything like this before. I can’t remember anything similar. For me, it’s not a big deal to play and have the night session start a little later, but I guess the tournament has to think about tickets and what works for them.”
As for whether she always expects to play on the main court as the world no. 1, she shrugged it off. “It’s tricky, because Alcaraz was playing too, so you’ve got two No. 1s. What can you do? I’m just glad I had a choice.”
Next up, Sabalenka takes on the world. No 72 Caty McNally in the third round.
