Learner Tien and Daniil Medvedev’s remarkable Indian Wells doubles partnership has come to an end.
The pair, who have shared many a battle on the ATP Tour, teamed up for the men’s doubles event in Indian Wells for the first time in their careers.
Unfortunately for the American/Russian duo, they lost to Arthur Rinderknech and Shanghai Masters champion Valentin Vacherot in the first round on Sunday.
The result came after Tien and Medvedev won singles matches against Ben Shelton and Alejandro Table.
After beating Shelton on Sunday, Tien discussed how his partnership with Medvedev came about.
Daniil Medvedev’s coach contacted Learner Tien’s coach
Speaking to reporters in California, Tien revealed that it was Medvedev’s camp that had expressed an interest in playing doubles.
Tien admitted that he had not planned to play doubles, but thought it would be ‘fun’ to play with the Russian.
If you were in charge of tennis, what is the first rule you would change?
“His coach reached out to my coach,” Tien said. “Originally, a couple guys had asked me to play doubles, and my coach actually didn’t really want me to play doubles. He just kind of wanted me to focus on singles.
“But when Daniil asked, it was more like — obviously we’re both singles players and we’re not really prioritizing doubles, so it wasn’t going to be something that would really get in the way of singles, is what we thought.
“I thought it would be fun, so I said yes.”
Tien and Medvedev have played each other four times on the ATP Tour. The pair first met at the 2025 Australian Open, and Tien emerged victorious in five sets.
Tien again beat the Russian at the 2025 China Open, before Medvedev avenged his losses by defeating the American in Shanghai.
Their fourth meeting took place at the 2026 Australian Open. Tien won the fourth-round contest 6-4, 6-0, 6-3.
Could Tien and Medvedev play each other in Indian Wells singles?
Unfortunately, it seems an unlikely potential outcome.
Tien and Medvedev have been drawn on opposite sides of the singles bracket, meaning they could only meet in the final.
After beating Ben Shelton on Sunday, Tien is due to play Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the fourth round.
Fokina, 26, is still searching for his first ATP Tour title and he moved a step closer to breaking this duck with victory over Jakub Mensik on Sunday.
As for Medvedev, he will play Sebastian Baez later today. If the Russian emerges victorious, he will play Alex Michelsen or Taylor Fritz in the fourth round.
