Jon Wertheim wants Australian Open rule change next year after Joao Fonseca and Learner Tien debuts

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The shocks have continued on the fifth day of action at the Australian Open, with young star Learner Tien dumping out Daniil Medvedev.

Tien edged past ATP number five and Australian Open fifth seed Medvedev in a five-set thriller, with the American winning 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(10-7).

Margaret Court Arena hosted the four-hour, 49-minute round two epic between the Russian and the 19-year-old Australian Open debutant.

Also making his debut at this year’s tournament was Joao Fonseca, who beat Tien to win the NextGen ATP Finals title last month.

Fonseca’s ability has shocked John McEnroe, with the 18-year-old having beaten Andrey Rublev on his Grand Slam main draw debut in round one.

Jon Wertheim wants Australian Open wild card for NextGen ATP finals champion

Fresh from their impressive NextGen ATP Finals displays, both Fonseca and Tien made it through qualifying to make the main draw in Melbourne.

And such performances, along with those of their fellow rising stars from Jeddah in December, have caused Jon Wertheim to call for a rule change for next year’s Australian Open.

READ MORE: What Novak Djokovic said about Joao Fonseca last year which is looking very true after his incredible Australian Open win

“You know who’s having a great tournament?” he wrote on X. “ATP Tour NextGen… Fast Learner Tien, [Alex] Michelsen, [Arthur] Fils, [Jakub] Mensik, [Nishesh] Basavareddy and, of course, Fonseca. Each has left a heelprint on the event. Give the winner a wild card next year…”

NextGen ATP duo Learner Tien and Joao Fonseca rise live rankings with Australian Open success

Wertheim and Andy Roddick disagreed over Fonseca before the Australian Open, with the 2003 US Open champion glad that the Brazilian was made to qualify for the major tournament.

There is now certainly more of an argument for Wertheim’s case given the displays of the teenager in Melbourne, although giving a wild card to a NextGen ATP Finals champion would likely unfairly result in a fully deserving qualified player losing out.

READ MORE: The three players who have the best chance of forming the next Big Three alongside Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz

One certainty is that Fonseca’s stock is rising fast, although the 18-year-old did fall in the second round of the Australian Open.

Still going strong, however, is Tien, with the 19-year-old’s Medvedev heroics earning him a third round meeting with Corentin Moutet.

The American is ranked 121st in the world at this moment in time, not far behind Fonseca in 112th, although they just have shot up the ATP Tour live rankings to 96th and 98th respectively.

Both drawn in the blue group in the 20-and-under tournament last month, eighth seed Fonseca beat fifth seed Tien 2-4, 4-3(10-8), 4-0, 4-2 in the final.

Their NextGen competitors Fils, Mensik and Michelsen are impressively all into the Australian Open third round.

Basavareddy and Shang Juncheng meanwhile exited in round one, while Luca Van Assche withdrew from qualification.