Daniil Medvedev won't underestimate Learner Tien in AO matchup that "drives me nuts"

On Sunday, Daniil Medvedev will face Learner Tien for the second straight year at the Australian Open. But there will be at least one big difference in his preparation for the young American this time around.

“Now, no underestimation,” Medvedev says.

Read: Medvedev learned of Tien rematch on scoreboard

The Russian admitted that he “probably” didn’t take Tien, who was a largely unheralded teenage rookie, seriously enough when he ran up against him in the second round 12 months ago. The result was a nearly five hour battle of attrition that concluded with a fifth-set tiebreaker at 3:00 in the morning—and a stunning Medvedev defeat.

As the season progressed, though, it was clear that this had been more than just another long and exhausting contest.

Learner drives me nuts. Daniil Medvedev

Tien’s win and Medvedev’s defeat set the tones for both of their seasons. Tien would reach the fourth round in Melbourne, and, despite his lack of height and service power, would go on to defy many people’s expectations and climb from 122 to 28 in the world, making himself one of the ATP’s top newcomers of the year. Medvedev, meanwhile, dropped out of the Top 10 for the first time since 2018, failed to win another match at the majors, and hit rock bottom at the US Open, where he exited with an armful of smashed racquets.

Maybe just as surprising, Tien-Medvedev turned into one of the best rivalries on the men’s tour. As the American rose and the Russian fell, their paths crossed two more times, and they produced two more see-saw marathons. Tien won the first, when Medvedev had to retire down 0-4 in the third set in Beijing. Soon after, Medvedev finally got on the board, 6-4 in third in Shanghai.

“We’ve played three times. I mean, all of them have been wars,” Tien said on Friday. “I think he served for the match all three times.”

“Learner drives me nuts,” Medvedev said after finally breaking through against him. But he was also full of praise for how Tien makes the most of what he has.

“In my opinion, he is an unbelievable player because he does not have a great serve, and serve is so important in tennis,” Medvedev said.

From the baseline, this lefty-righty odd couple could be mirror images. Both are stubbornly steady, but neither just gets the ball back in play; there’s an intelligence and a purpose with each shot, even if they’re not trying to clock a clean winner with it. The speedy Tien adds touch to his baseline mix, and has a lefty’s ability to create angles that cross his right-handed opponents up. The rangy Medvedev can inject pace on the fly, especially with his backhand, and create a lot of subtle variation from one swing to the next.

“We both don’t give up too many free points,” Tien says. “I think naturally that makes the rallies very long, games very long. We both don’t make it easy on our opponents. So, naturally, we’re not making it easy on each other.”

Both may also count themselves as lucky to be here. Tien came back from a two set to one deficit against Marcos Giron in the first round; Medvedev was down set two sets to love, and nearly out of the third set, before squeaking past Fabian Marozsan in five in his last match.

Their shots may be the same as last year, and they may know exactly what they’re going to get from each other, but the stakes will be higher. This is the fourth round, rather than the second round, and the winner will advance to a quarterfinal against either Alexander Zverev or Francisco Cerundolo, neither of whom would be called unbeatable.

Tien and Medvedev are also in different places now.

The American is trying to avoid a sophomore slump, and keep pushing higher, against tougher Top 25 competition. He has points to defend now, and tour-mates who, like Medvedev, won’t underestimate him. The better the opponent, the more his lack of a bailout serve may hurt him. No matter what he does, there will be many who continue to doubt his future prospects because of that shot; even Medvedev expressed that doubt as he praised him.

If Tien at 20 is still trying to prove himself, Medvedev at 29 is trying to re-prove himself. Since his US Open meltdown, he seems rejuvenated by a coaching change—he hired former Australian Open champ Thomas Johansson—and by his family life. Two weeks ago, he won the title in Brisbane for the first time, and he also sees more to his life than just tennis now.

“When you lose a tough match, of course it’s going to stay in your head,” Medvedev said this week. “I had a rough year last year. But when you come back home, you have two daughters, it’s such a good feeling. You’re like, ‘You know what, OK, I will try to do better next time, but at least I’m home earlier,’ something like this. You always try to find positives.”

Medvedev, it seems safe to say, won’t feel positive for every moment of his match against Tien. He may even go a little nuts. But this time he knows what he’s getting into.