Student Tian completes redemption in Jeddah, wins Next Generation ATP Finals trophy | ATP Tour

match report

Learner Tien tops next generation ATP Finals

20-year-old American player defeats Belgian player Blockx

December 21, 2025

Rookie Tian continued his rapid rise in Jeddah on Sunday, lifting the Next Generation ATP Finals trophy presented by the PIF and further cementing his status as one of the most exciting young stars in tennis.

In a largely one-sided championship match of the prestigious 20-and-under event, the American beat 20-year-old Alexander Blockx of Belgium 4-3(4), 4-2, 4-1 to avenge his runner-up finish at the event in Saudi Arabia a year ago.

“I’m very happy,” Tien said of his 2025 season. “I was able to check off a lot of the goals that I wanted to achieve this year. I had a long list of goals that I wanted to achieve, and I was able to achieve most of them. I’m really happy.”

The title run earned Tian $502,255 in prize money and made him the third top seed to win the title, following Stefanos Tsitsipas (2018) and Carlos Alcaraz (2021).

Twelve months ago, Tian lost to Brazilian Joao Fonseca in the four-set final. Since then, the southpaw has only gone from strength to strength. During an impressive 2025 season, he won his first ATP Tour title in Metz, racked up five top-10 wins and surged to a career-high No. 28 in the PIF ATP Rankings.

Tian will now look to continue that momentum in 2026, starting with next month’s Australian Open, having made headlines last year when he became the youngest player to reach the fourth round in Melbourne since Rafael Nadal in 2005. Tian Tian has coach Zhang Depei by his side this week and will also be traveling with the American when he travels to Australia.

“I don’t think he’s a coach who talks a lot during games,” Tian said of Zhang. “But he never shied away from telling me when he felt I needed to hear something, and I think that helped me a lot.”

In front of a lively crowd at King Abdullah Sports City, Brooks got off to a solid start, winning all 21 first serves (out of 24 total) in the first set. However, even that level proved insufficient against Tian’s composure, with the American grabbing some loose forehands to take advantage in the first-set tiebreak and take control of the match.

From that point on, the game became one-way traffic, with Tien putting up a solid and dominant performance in the baseline exchange to win in 58 minutes. The southpaw saved two break points in the match at 3-2 but had little trouble serving.

“I knew it was going to be a tough match…I didn’t think he missed a serve in the first set and a half,” Tian said. “I thought he played great, so I’m happy to advance.”

A learner’s moment of redemption 🏆

Tien defeated Blockx 4-3(4) 4-2 4-1 to win the championship!
⁰#NextGenATP finals pic.twitter.com/88RnPxLI0K

— NextGen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) December 21, 2025

Tenn suffered a surprise loss to Rafael Hodahl in the first round robin earlier this week and then faced Martin Landalus. He then defeated Nikolai Budkov Kjaer in four sets to reach the semi-finals, and soon sent compatriot Nishish Basavareddy into the championship match.

Despite the eventual loss, Brockers can still take a lot of positives from a great week in Jeddah, where he defeated Justin Engel, Basavareddy, Dino Pryzmik and close friend Budkov Kjaer.

“I had a lot of fun this week,” Blockx said. “Everything about it is great – the organization, the staff… I think it’s one of the best events I’ve been to and the crowd today was great.”

Blockx is ranked 116th in the PIF ATP Rankings and is a two-time ATP Challenger Champion in 2025, while also making history as the first Belgian to compete in the Next Generation ATP Finals. Although he defeated Tian Tian in the men’s singles final of the 2023 Australian Open, the American reversed that result in the biggest moment on Sunday.

did you know?
Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz are among the former Next Generation ATP finalists presented by PIF Champions.