Tennis

2025-08-24 - Novak Djokovic vs Learner Tien

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Novak Djokovic vs Learner Tien
Tennis: US Open First Round
Sunday 24th August 2025 - Scheduled 7pm
12am (British Time)

Preview

At this stage of his career, Novak Djokovic is only preparing himself to be at his best when the Grand Slam tournaments come around. With that in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that the former World Number 1 has not been in action since his defeat in the Wimbledon Semi Final.

He has actually been beaten in the Semi Final in each of the Grand Slams played this season and Novak Djokovic has admitted that sliding to World Number 7 in the Rankings makes it very hard for his 38 year old body to navigate the latter stages of a Major. Now he has to likely beat both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz to get his hands on another big trophy, and Novak Djokovic looks to be in the tougher half of the draw overall at the US Open in 2025.

However, the 2023 US Open is the last Grand Slam won by Novak Djokovic and he has been Champion in New York City on four occasions and reached the Final here ten times.

It is clear to Novak Djokovic and his team that he needs to find a way to make 'easier' work of the early Rounds at these Slams if he is going to have the energy to compete with young, hungry, talented players at the business end of the tournaments.

Novak Djokovic dropped three sets in five matches at Wimbledon before the loss to Sinner and that extra time on the court can be an issue. He will be hoping for a smoother start to this event and Djokovic remains one of the top hard court players in the world, while he did beat Carlos Alcaraz in the Quarter Final at the Australian Open to show it can be done.

The New York City crowd have had a history of getting under the skin of players and Novak Djokovic may have to find a way to keep them quiet when going up against Learner Tien of the United States under the lights.

Learner Tien is an improving player on the Tour and has cracked the top 50 of the World Rankings for the first time, although he would have hoped for a more comfortable opening match. He has lost in the First Round in each of the last three seasons at the US Open, but Learner Tien announced himself on the Tour by coming through the Qualifiers and reaching the Fourth Round at the Australian Open In January.

That included an upset win over Daniil Medvedev, although Learner Tien is still trying to figure out how to compete against the top players consistently.

While Novak Djokovic has been resting and preparing, Learner Tien has put up plenty of wins in his time in Washington, Toronto and Cincinnati. An upset over Andrey Rublev in Washington deserves respect, although the Russian earned revenge in Cincinnati, and it should be noted that Learner Tien is 7-9 on the hard courts when facing higher Ranked players.

Three of those wins were at the Australian Open and this is going to be a tough test for the teenager.

The performances in the defeats to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Alex Michelsen and Andrey Rublev in the build up to the US Open have been pretty one-sided on the scoreboard and the feeling is that this could trend that way too. It may take Novak Djokovic a bit of time to get used to the serve and the style, but the veteran has seen it all on the Tour and his returning skills should come to the fore, even on the traditionally quicker US Open hard courts.

Novak Djokovic is trying to work out how to beat the top two players in the world consistently, but he is still very good and can ease through the opening Round after a competitive first set is played.