Five years ago, a 12-year-old American named Thea Frodin stood on a film set embodying her childhood idol. Cast as a tennis-playing body double for the actress portraying a young Serena Williams in the Oscar-nominated film King Richard, Frodin spent six months working alongside Will Smith, who played Richard Williams. The winter shoots on cold, rainy courts came with thoughtful gestures from the Hollywood star, who routinely brought hot water to keep the young player warm. Yet the cinematic experience left an unexpected imprint on Frodin’s mechanics: she became so accustomed to replicating Serena's strokes that her coaches later had to actively help her strip away the mimicry and rediscover her natural game.
Now, the teenager is ready to follow in the American great's footsteps on the real courts of Flushing Meadows. Ranked 580th in the world, Frodin has earned a main-draw singles wildcard into the US Open after capturing the United States Tennis Association's Girls' 18s National Championships. It marks a rapid ascent for a player whose previous major highlight came earlier in the year when she reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open girls' singles and made her WTA Tour qualifying debut in Miami.
Instead of a gentle introduction to professional tennis, Frodin’s reward for her national championship run is a towering first-round challenge: a match against world number two Elena Rybakina. Rybakina enters the tournament as a two-time major winner, the reigning Australian Open champion, and the winner of the WTA Finals in Riad, where she defeated Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets. Known for her immense height, clean technical precision, and one of the most lethal serves on the women's tour, the Wimbledon 2022 champion presents a formidable benchmark for any veteran, let alone a 17-year-old debutante.
To be standing here right now and actually getting a chance to play in the main draw, it means everything,
Frodin told the BBC. [Rybakina] is number two for a reason, so I'm expecting a battle. Hopefully, I can bring out my best level against her.
Frodin’s path to this stage includes a taste of high-level competition from her qualifying appearance in Miami, where she pushed former world number 35 Viktorija Golubic to three sets in her first meeting against a top-100 opponent. Yet stepping into the electric atmosphere of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will amplify the intensity. Having absorbed the cadence of grand-stage pressure through her junior success and her brush with cinematic royalty, Frodin remains focused on embracing the environment rather than shrinking from it.
I'm trying to stay in the moment as much as possible,
Frodin noted. This is a huge opportunity for me to enjoy the moment, have fun and see what I can do. The atmosphere, how loud the crowd will be, I feel like I fit well in that environment.
Sources
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- openwetten.com original
- tennisaktuell.de original
- bbc.co.uk original
- nielsen.com original