Medvedev’s Uneasy Dance with Tien’s Ascent
A Top 5 stalwart collides with a teenage force in 2025, forging a rivalry of drawn-out deciders and physical reckonings that exposed the tour’s shifting guard.
As the 2025 tennis season concludes, ATPTour.com unveils our annual ‘Best Of’ series, reflecting on the year’s most gripping rivalries, matches, comebacks, and upsets. This installment spotlights the surprising saga between Daniil Medvedev and Learner Tien, a matchup that ignited from improbable origins. The Russian started the year in the Top 5, the American outside the Top 100, yet their three ATP head-to-head clashes delivered some of the season’s most absorbing theater, each stretching to a deciding set with Tien claiming a 2-1 edge.
Youth disrupts Melbourne’s late-night rhythm
These all-court combatants traded intricate patterns, blending experience against raw promise in a rivalry sharpened by a seven-inch height disparity. Their Australian Open Round of 64 encounter set the tone, a five-set epic ending 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(7) at 2:54 a.m. after four hours and 48 minutes. Tien’s left-handed flat strokes pierced Medvedev’s defenses with crosscourt redirects and inside-out forehands, forcing the defender into prolonged rallies where consistency eroded his edge.
Medvedev, the defending finalist with two prior Melbourne finals, saved a match point in the third set via an ace but couldn’t hold a 7-6 lead in the fifth-set tie-break. Tien reeled off four straight points, arms aloft in triumph, his smile cutting through the exhaustion. This breakthrough made the 19-year-old the second-youngest American man to reach a major’s Round of 16, alongside Pete Sampras at 18, while Medvedev’s tournament ended with a 1-4 major slate for the year.
“I was definitely hoping it wouldn’t go to a fifth-set breaker,” Tien admitted after the victory. “But I’m just happy to get a win. I know I made it a lot harder than maybe it could have been.”
Tien overcomes Medvedev in a Melbourne thriller. Credit: Getty Images
Composure forces Beijing’s abrupt halt
The Asian hard-court swing brought two more meetings in eight days, amplifying the psychological stakes. In Beijing’s ATP 500 semifinals, Medvedev led 7-5 in the first and 4-1 in the second, serving for the match at 5-3 with down-the-line backhands pinning Tien back. The teenager stayed steady, breaking via deep returns that neutralized serves and sparked errors in 20-shot crosscourt duels, forcing a 7-5 second-set turnaround.
Medvedev departed before the third set, returning with tape on his upper right leg, his movement crippled by cramps from the opener. At 29, he retired 4-0 down, advancing Tien to his debut tour-level final and Beijing’s second-youngest ever, trailing only Rafael Nadal. The American’s lower center of gravity aided quick pivots on the event’s medium-paced surface, turning Medvedev’s aggressive one–two setups against him as fatigue mounted.
“I had that belief that I was still in the match even though I was down a break,” Tien said of his comeback. “I had the confidence that I could break him because I was able to break him a few times in the first set. I hung around and it worked out.”
Willpower edges Shanghai’s final twist
Eight days later, Shanghai Masters Round of 16 delivered Medvedev’s revenge in a 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 6-4 nail-biter lasting two hours and 53 minutes. The opener brimmed with quality, both players exchanging one–two combinations and inside-in winners on the true-bouncing hard courts. Tien powered through the second-set tie-break 7-1 as cramps hit his foe at 6-5, prompting pickle juice and physio pleas that revealed raw desperation.
Hobbling through points, Medvedev trailed 3-4 in the decider but clawed back with three games, mixing underspin slices to vary pace and crosscourt blasts to exploit gaps. His heart-fueled surge preserved a tour foothold, the camera lens signed with a vow to stay in the fray. Relief washed over him afterward, praising the lefty’s instincts despite a modest serve, already ranking around 30 at 19 and poised for more.
“For me to beat him… I thought I was going to lose. I was cramping again and I’m just super happy to manage to do it. I think the toughest part was that we played two times [before], and in my opinion he is an unbelievable player, because he doesn’t have a great serve and serve is so important in tennis. Without the serve, he is 19 years old and 30-something in the world and only going up. In my opinion he is such a good tennis player. He feels the game so well.”
Across these hard-court crucibles, Tien’s poise under pressure chipped at Medvedev’s armor, blending tactical depth with the tour’s generational churn. The veteran’s physical hurdles contrasted the phenom’s steady climb, hinting at clashes that could redefine baselines in seasons ahead.
