Student Tien’s path from Challenger success to Tour stardom | ATP Tour

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Tien’s path from Challenger success to Tour stardom

The American secured three ATP Challenger titles in 2024 ahead of his rookie season on the ATP Tour

December 23, 2025

While 2025 marked the season of success for Student Tien on the ATP Tour, the blueprint was drawn last year, when the rest showed themselves in the events of the ITF World Tennis Tour and the ATP Challenger tournaments.

Away from the bright lights of the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, which Tien won on Sunday to join an elite list of former champions including Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, the American is building his foundation.

Flashback to early 2024, and Tien endured a three-month layoff due to a seventh rib injury that made moving his dominant arm difficult. Tien’s rapid growth since then has rarely slowed down. Part of why Tien stands where he does today is the ATP Challenger circuit, which has long been considered a launching pad for rising stars. Even the biggest names in the sport, including the ‘Big Three’ have had to go through Challenger events.

Tien enjoyed a decorated youth career, winning the USTA Boys’ 18s National Championship twice (2022, 2023). He also reached the finals of two junior Slam tournaments. Tien announced his arrival in 2024, building a 28-game winning streak that includes four runs to the ITF World Tennis Tour title and his first Challenger trophy.

“Playing tournaments like that makes you ready to take that next step,” Tien said Sunday after winning in Jeddah. “I think the number of games you have to play, especially when you win them – I think the confidence it gives you, it really boosts you to the next level.”

Opposing Tien in his Challenger debut at Bloomfield Hills was countryman Nishesh Basavareddy, whom he beat in the semi finals in Jeddah last week. That Challenger meeting between Tien and Basavareddy was just the third final in Challenger history to bring together two young Americans. Tien, who was 18 at the time, needed a tiebreaker in all five of his matches that week.

“I was very happy and relieved to face them all,” Tien said at the time. “I’m really excited to get my first Challenger. That was one of the goals I wanted to cross off my list this year.”

Tien accomplished his goal of claiming one Challenger title and then another. He finished the 2024 season with a hat-trick of Challenger medals, also winning at Las Vegas and Fairfield. He earned an outstanding 35-9 career record at that level. In Las Vegas, Tien cruised past former No. 17 Bernard Tomic 6-0, 6-1 in a 39-minute final, the shortest championship match in Challenger history.

^{Student Tien working on the 2024 Fairfield Challenger. Credit: Taube – Grossman Pro Tennis Tournament}

The California native joined Andy Roddick, Sam Querrey and Taylor Fritz in a rare list of Americans to win three Challenger titles before their 19th birthday.

“If you would have told me six months ago that this is what my year would look like, I probably would have been skeptical,” Tien told analyst Mike Cation after winning the Fairfield Challenger.

Before Tien went on a 28-game winning streak, he posted a photo on Instagram of two catchers using a pickaxe in a dirt tunnel. One gave up the prize; the other kept swinging, getting closer to the diamonds he hoped – but didn’t know – lay on the other side.

That relentless imagination, evident in Tien’s continued growth, has translated into tangible results. The 20-year-old won his first tour-level title in November in Metz and finished the season at a career-high No. 28 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Returning to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, where he was last year’s finalist, Tien went one step further to claim the $502,250 champion’s payout.

It’s safe to say that Tien’s days of ‘coming and going’ are over. Tien has reached the pinnacle of sports. The close quarters of the Challenger and the pursuit of success are now a part of his past. Tien successfully used that experience to get to where he is today.

“I think the Challengers are good,” Tien said. “I think it prepares you to play many games in a row. Their games are not easy.”