Special from
Zoo Tennis
| Share: |  |
|  | |
|
|
Celebrating its 80th year in Kalamazoo, the USTA Boys 18s and 16s National Championships has attracted stellar fields once again, including defending 18s champion Learner Tien.
Learner Tien Returns to Defend His 18s Title
© Zoo Tennis
Since winning the Kalamazoo 18s title last year, Tien has continued to expand his tennis horizons. The 17-year-old from Irvine, California reached the Australian Open boys final and won the doubles title in Melbourne in January, played No. 2 singles for the University of Southern California in April and May, advanced to the boys semifinals at Roland Garros in June and won his first USTA Pro Circuit singles title in July. With an ATP ranking of 710 and an ITF junior ranking of 12, Tien is the No. 1 seed this year, with designs on joining Paul Goldstein, Phillip King, Donald Young, Jack Sock and Zachary Svajda, all of whom claimed back-to-back 18s titles in the past three decades.
No. 2 seed Nishesh Basavareddy will be making his Kalamazoo debut, with the pandemic and injuries keeping him from competing in the Nationals the past three years. The 18-year-old from Indiana ended his freshman year at Stanford No. 16 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings, having won the ITA Fall National Championships in November. The US Open boys doubles champion in 2022, Basavareddy reached No. 3 in the ITF junior rankings at the beginning of this year.
