AO – Simple can be Effective; Tennis-Tien a brand
View(s):Most of us would not know Learner Tien. I did not know of him until he made it into the 2026 Australian Open (AO). It is the first Grand Slam of the year. Tien reached the quarter-finals, having entered the event ranked 26. This he achieved from last year to this year – short run to stardom.
How did American Tien make it? The answer came from his player’s box – Micheal Chang the Chinese American tennis player, tennis artist who served under arm to Ivan Lendl at match point in French Open of 1989 final to win, is Tien’s coach. Searching Tien’s record, it does not have much. He is 5 foot 11 inches tall and Asiatic in build. His tennis does not depend on muscular strength but on his sighting to play very close to base line and competency over half volley and groundstrokes. Has no big killer shots but rapid-fire groundstrokes; baffled many.
Had he beaten Alexander Zevrev and reached the semi-final of Australian Open, he would have been the youngest to achieve it. It did not happen. He is the youngest quarter-finalist in Australian Open history.
Tien’s quarter-final match against Zevrev took him into physical strain, not built strong like others in the top end. Much of a touch artist than a power stroke-maker.
Reappearance of simple tennis
While we have and had made game of tennis look sophisticated and strenuous, only a few made the game look easy to play. Simple tennis is winning and is nothing new. Asians known for it. Felisisimo Ampong of Philippines and Ramanathan Krishnan of India used it to reach semi-final of Wimbledon. Good many South Americans came up with it. Nicolas Alvarez and Rafael Osuna are easy to recall. Osuna was graceful and effective.
A change
After a long spell of stroke maker’s power tennis, Micheal Chang’s simple tennis input into Tien, is an assurance, nothing is obsolete in sports.
Tien’s story is worth a mention. Vietnamese parents, they named him ‘Learner’. Mother a teacher and this was their emphasis to learn. Their mission statement is, ‘if a man does not learn from every mistake in life, he is not be worthy of life’. Rather hard when life defined without sweet childhood, adventurous teens, manhood and romance, but then realities often does not deliver these to everyone. War torn Vietnam must have been one such reality.
In 2025, Learner Tien earned 1.8 million US dollars. First of his millions. From ranked 26 at the beginning of the Australian Open 2026, he is bound to be in the Top 20 of ATP after Australian Open 2026 with 1.4 million US dollars richer.
Australian Open of 2026
It did what it was supposed to do. Craig Tiley, another South African with a trail of contribution to tennis is its Director. South African Clifford Drysdale is founder member of ATP, Dennis van der Meer, American game promoting coach, Kevin Anderson, Head of ATP and Craig Tyler, acclaimed college coach in USA, Australian Open Director for over a decade now. South African contribution is noteworthy. I had the privilege of listening to Craig Tyler. When the amateur-professional feud was burning in the 1970s, it was South Africa that found the outlet and made tennis survive. Tyler made tennis easy to learn game. I have used his method of teaching volley, never failed.
As I write this, AO women’s tennis has reached the semi-finals. Aryna Sabalenka is set to play Elina Svitolina, ranked WTA 12, and Jessica Pegula will play Elena Rybakina. No new challenge made it into the final four. These four held on to their game and made all the changes to come through but not without having anxious moments. The skill level demand of tennis has placed it to be one of the most difficult games. Like chess, it is easy to play very difficult to master. Increasingly, tennis is giving less and less time to players with its challenges. In a way not for afternoon players anymore. The worst constrains of tennis is time availability and the big court, which is largest for an individual game. In women, this challenge causes too many causalities at all levels of indulgence.
As for the semi-finals in Australian Open, as I write this Rybakina and Pegula have shown good form, while challenges from Sabalenka and Svitolina are legendry.
In men, Lorenzo Musetti gave up another match due to physical breakdown to Novak Djokovic to face Carlos Alcaraz. AO has been most interesting to fans.
Doubles and Mixed doubles at AO
Along with some changed these two events, which went out of popularity is showing an increase in spectatorship. The televised versions produced good deal of appeal as the Singles. Older Singles players and dedicated Doubles exponents in combination, made the event with evened out net, ground stroke and volley oriented chitty-chitty-bang-bang firework display. The fireworks made it more awaited to watch.
By Sunday, AO of 2026 will end with new winners and will set the train for the rest of the year. Without doubt, in American Learner Tien, we could say a star is born. Whether Tien will or will not will be an interesting await in tennis. In women, maturity seems to be critical to win. Pegula and Sabalenka are bounce-back players.
–George Paldano, European and Asian competition player; player development German Federation, National coach Brunei and Sri Lanka; Davis Cup, Federation Cup, ATP and WTA tour coach; WhatsApp +94775448880–