“If only he could serve….”
“Just think if he had a serve….”
Those are the kinds of comments that have accompanied Learner Tien in the early stages of his professional tennis career. And they aren’t unfair, either. The 20-year-old will be the first to admit that his serve is one of his game’s weaknesses.
Well, it’s getting better. And it’s actually getting better in a hurry.
Tien fired an eye-popping 20 aces during his 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) win over Miomir Kecmanovic in the Delray Beach Open second round on Thursday afternoon. That’s right. Twenty. That’s a borderline serve-bot kind of number for a best-of-three match.
Ironically, Tien lost in a third-set tiebreaker in the 2025 Delray Beach second round. In that match, the left-hander recorded a mere three aces while falling to Matteo Arnaldi 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(1). By comparison, Arnaldi blasted 24 aces. Needless to say, it’s hard to win tennis matches when you are losing the ace battle by 21.
Tien knew he had to work on that shot, and that is exactly what he has done.
“I’ve spent a lot more time on it, for sure,” the world No. 23 explained after outlasting Kecmanovic. “It’s still a work in progress; I don’t think it’s a complete product by any means. But I see the improvement in certain matches, and it’s very motivating.”
Thursday’s performance did not come entirely out of nowhere, either. Tien cracked as many aces as the big-serving Marin Cilic in their Dallas first-round showdown last week (nine apiece). During his recent Australian Open quarterfinal run, Tien twice reached double-digits in the ace count — including 21 against Marcos Giron in round one.
Moreover, the California native won an amazing 85 percent of his first-serve points against Kecmanovic (45 of 55). Yes, a lot of that has to do with aces. But a big part of it is setting up the points with serve-plus-one tactics and taking early control of rallies with well-positioned serves.
And when Tien has the upper hand in a rally, he rarely lets go of it. His baseline play has never been and never will be a question. That part of his game is already world-class. If the serve can even come close to holding up its end of the bargain, Tien’s potential is limitless.
The notable part of his post-match interview on Thursday is that he said his serving improvements are “motivating.” Not “satisfying” or anything like that. He is identifying progress but knows it can be — and has to be — even better.
And when that happens, the rest of the tour better watch out.