JEDDAH/WASHINGTON, December 16, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

During his first full year on the ATP Tour, Learner Tien enjoyed a break-out season. He accumulated 32 tour-level wins, won his first ATP Tour title in Metz and reached the final of an ATP 500 tournament in Beijing.

Tien, 20, who reached last year’s final of the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, returns to Jeddah as the favorite. He’s the only one of the eight players who qualified for the year-end event showcasing the best 20-and-under players on the ATP Tour ranked inside the Top 100.

The 28th-ranked American from Irvine, Calif. leads the Blue Group, which includes a pair of Spaniards, No. 134 Martin Landaluce and No. 168 Rafael Jodar, and No. 136 Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway.

Meanwhile, the Red Group includes No. 116 Alexander Blockx of Belgium, No. 128 Dino Prizmic of Croatia, returning American No. 167 Nishesh Basavareddy and No. 187 Justin Engel of Germany, who is the youngest player in the field at age 18.

It all starts here for the Class of 2025 #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/utQNxYJ6yi

— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 15, 2025

“I feel like I’m going new places, playing new tournaments, new players for the first time,” Tien said earlier this season at the National Bank Open in Toronto. “There are good streaks and bad streaks. Fortunately, I can forget about the bad streaks and try and enjoy the good weeks as much as I can.”

Among Tien’s highlights, he advanced to the fourth round at the Australian Open as a qualifier – defeating then-World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in a grueling five-set, second-round match – and enjoyed a run to the round of 16 at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai.

Breakout season secured for Learner Tien ✅#NextGenATPFinals presented by PIF pic.twitter.com/aphb5w3Pt9

— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 2, 2025

The 5-foot-11, 160-pound left-handed Tien broke into the Top 200 in August 2024 and by the end of the Australian Open reached the Top 100. Then, he rose to the Top 50 in August, becoming the youngest American man in the ATP Top 50 since Andy Roddick in 2002. Tien has garnered five Top 10 wins this season and his current ranking is a career-high mark after beginning the season ranked No. 122. He comes into the Next Gen ATP Finals riding high in a five-match winning streak. 

2️⃣days until the return of Learner Tien in Jeddah ⌛#NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/n0OubghtZs

— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 15, 2025

After defeating No. 27 Cameron Norrie for the third time this season in four meetings to win the championship of the Moselle Open, his first ATP tour-level title in Metz, France, Tien said: “I’m so relieved, I’m so happy, I’m so tired.” Soon, after he secured match point, Tien raced over to share a congratulatory hug with his coach, Hall of Famer Michael Chang, who joined Tien’s team in August.

The top-seeded Tien’s first opponent in group play Wednesday evening will be No. 7 seed Jodar, who is ranked 168th. The 19-year-old from Madrid plays right-handed and currently plays for the University of Virginia in the United States. In a late-season surge, Jodar won three ATP Challenger Tour titles in the final three months of 2025: at Hersonissos, Greece; at Lincoln, Neb. (U.S.), and Charlottesville, Va. (U.S.). 

This will be the first meeting between Tien and Jodar.

Learner Tien. Moselle Open 2025 Champion pic.twitter.com/FVD5u9DaPB

— Moselle Open (@MoselleOpen) November 8, 2025

Around the Next Gen ATP Finals

The other Wednesday evening match-up in the Blue Group will be between No. 4 seed Martin Landaluce and No. 5 seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer. It will be their fourth meeting this season.

Landaluce defeated Budkov Kjaer three times this season, including 6-4, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger at Orleans, France on an indoor hard court in September. His earlier wins against Budkov Kjaer came on clay at Prague and on grass at Nottingham.

Meet rising Spanish star Martin Landaluce #NextGenATPFinals pic.twitter.com/5QfVYJwJdk

— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 8, 2025

Meanwhile, the Red Group will begin Wednesday afternoon with No. 3 seed Dino Prizmic versus No. 6 seed Ninesh Basavareddy followed by No. 2 seed Alexander Blockx versus No. 8 seed Justin Engel.

Group stage play takes place from Wednesday through Friday. The top two finishers in each group advance to Saturday’s semifinals and the final is Sunday evening.

Wednesday’s Next Gen ATP Finals order of play

By the numbers

Since the Next Gen ATP Finals began in 2017, there have been seven different champions: Hyeon Chung (2017), Stefanos Tsitsipas (2018), Jannik Sinner (2019), Carlos Alcaraz (2021), Brandon Nakashima (2022), Hamad Medjedovic (2023), Joao Fonseca (2024).

“Quotable …”

“Someone watching me for the first time can expect a modern tennis game. A powerful serve, fast balls from both sides. I try to bring energy to the court, we’re in the entertainment business.”

– Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, as told to the ATP Tour website.