Daniil Medvedev’s 2026 Grand Slam season started with a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open.
Medvedev, who claimed his 22nd career title at the Brisbane International earlier this month, was denied a place in the last eight at Melbourne Park by Learner Tien.
Tien, aged 20, defeated the former world number one in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0, 6-3, to become the youngest American to reach his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal since Andy Roddick in 2001.
The young star dominated Medvedev and will now face last year’s finalist, Alexander Zverev, in his next match at the tournament.
It was an unexpectedly heavy defeat for the Russian, who had high praise for Tien after the match.
Daniil Medvedev reacts to his loss to Learner Tien in Melbourne
In his post-match press conference, Medvedev admitted: “He played too good for me today. Could I do better? I mean, you can always do better if you lose with the scoreline I did, but I felt like, yeah, he had a match probably of his life or not.
“It doesn’t matter. He had a good match. I didn’t manage to rival his level, and that’s why basically I lost, and there is nothing to change anymore right now.”
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Medvedev was knocked out of the Australian Open by Tien in 2025 as well, with the then-teenager beating him in a five-set thriller.
When asked what was different against Tien this time around, Medvedev said: “It’s a very tough question, because it’s completely — honestly, I cannot answer, because I would probably say, in general, I’m playing much better, but if you compare the exact match, I don’t know.
“I want to say I played better last year, but maybe I say this because of the scoreline. So I don’t have an answer. I don’t have an exact answer to your question, sorry.”
Medvedev came back from two sets down in the third round against Fabian Marozsan, but he said the lengthy bout with the Hungarian was not to blame for his loss to Tien.
“I mean, the match with Fabian was for sure intense, but it was not even four hours. I felt fine,” said the 2021 US Open champion.
“It was not about the legs today. It was just about the tennis, so [in] my opinion, that probably not physically. Physically, I was fine.”
Daniil Medvedev said Learner Tien’s level surprised him
Discussing Tien’s game, Medvedev said he was surprised at the Next Gen ATP Finals champion’s level.
“He played great, super-aggressive. Even when I was making good shots, he was making a better shot back.
“Didn’t find many solutions today on the court, which is rare, and I didn’t feel that many times in my life like this.
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“But, again, these things can happen. He had, like, unbelievable match where everything went in. It did happen to me as well a couple of times, and you even kind of feel sorry for your opponent, because, okay, I can go for tweener now and probably with closed eyes and make it. It happens.
“I should have, yeah, should have done maybe something a little bit better to try to disturb this rhythm of his.”
Tien has a 1-1 record against his next opponent, Zverev, but lost their last match at Roland Garros in 2025.
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