Linda Fruhvirtova: Things to know about the rising teenager in women's tennis
The Czechia native, 18, is the youngest player inside the top 100 on the WTA. She has the backing of one of the biggest tennis coaches - and also calls herself a Taylor Swift super-fan.
Tennis
As Coco Gauff has established herself as a top 10 force in women's tennis, many have asked: Who is the next teenaged star-in-the-making on the WTA Tour?
Enter Czech player Linda Fruhvirtova, who turned 18 on 1 May and has made the case that said player could very well be her, having already reached world No. 50 earlier this year after winning her first singles title in 2022.
She's the youngest player inside the top 200, with 17-year-old Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (another name to know) the next closest at world No. 175.
Fervent tennis fans have been familiar with Fruhvirtova's name for some five years now, as the Czechia native captured the exclusive Les Petits As junior title in 2019. A year later, her younger sister Brenda won that same crown, making them the first-ever sister duo to do so.
What else should you know about the teenager with a lethal baseline game that also calls herself a devoted Harry Styles fan and a "Swiftie"? We highlight those aspects and more below.
Linda Fruhvirtova: Teenage dreams
While the top level of women's tennis was once a playground for teenaged stars (Jennifer Capriati won Barcelona 1992 at age 16), a variety of factors have made success at a younger age a rarity, namely the Age Eligibility Rule implemented by the WTA that limits the number of tournaments a player can compete in before the age of 18.
Fruhvirtova, however, has become a rare example of turning her junior talent (she was ranked as high No. 2 and made the 2021 Wimbledon girls' semi-finals) and notoriety into sudden senior success.
Having scored her first-ever top 25 win over Elise Mertens en route to the fourth round at the WTA 1000 stop in Miami at age 16 just last year, Fruhvirtova worked her way inside the top 200 rankings and then captured a maiden WTA singles trophy in September.
That triumph came at the Chennai Open, where she beat Magda Linette (an Australian Open semi-finalist this year) in a two-hour, 40-minute final, 4-6 6-3 6-4, in stiflingly humid conditions.
"No words can describe what this title means to me," Fruhvirtova wrote on Instagram. "We're just getting started."
She's had a strong start to 2023, too, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 50 in March after making the fourth round of the Australian Open, beating Olympic silver medallist Marketa Vondrousova along the way.
Linda Fruhvirtova: A Czech charge on the WTA
The talent that has emerged from Czechia over the last decade-plus in women's tennis was unfathomable some 20 years ago.
Petra Kvitova's surprise win at Wimbledon in 2011 was only a sign of things to come, as the Billie Jean King Cup team captured six titles in eight years.
Kvitova was joined by eventual world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova - a two-time Grand Slam runner-up - at the top of the game, and the country currently has 10 players inside the top 100, behind only the U.S. in sheer numbers.
Olympic doubles champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova have become the team to beat in women's doubles, as Krejcikova has established herself as a major champion (Roland-Garros 2021) and top singles player, too.
Fruhvirtova, however, leads a new generation of Czech stars-to-be. Linda Noskova, who is just a few months older than Fruhvirtova, has had a fistful of big wins to her name to start 2023, while Sara Bejlek and Lucie Havlickova are ones to watch, too.
And there's another: Meet Brenda Fruhvirtova
The scary thing about the Fruhvitova family? There's more where Linda came from - namely in sister Brenda, who is 16 and has made her way into the world's top 150.
The sisters call one another best friends, and spent the off-season at tennis legend Chris Evert's academy in Boca Raton, Florida, training with some of the top players in the game.
Brenda made her Grand Slam main draw debut at this year's Australian Open, working her way through the qualifying draw.
After her Les Petits win in 2020, she reached world No. 4 in the junior rankings and has used the ITF World Tennis Tour circuit to build her pro CV, winning nine lower-level singles titles already, including her biggest in March at a stop in Bangaluru, India.
Big names, big goals
While training at the Evert Academy might be an eyebrow-raiser for both the Fruhvirtova family and the tennis world that keeps a close eye on such movements, Fruhvirtova has had backing from one of the most recognisable names in coaching since 2017 in Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams.
Mouratoglou provided a scholarship for the Fruhvirtova sisters to train at his academy in the south of France over the last five years, and he himself believes that Linda could eventually make her way to the top of the game - including becoming world No. 1.
“A lot of players say they want to become world No. 1, but only some players believe it deep inside - and Linda is one of them," Mouratoglou said in a video series for Tennis Majors last year.
“She’s feisty," he added. "She wants it so bad. She’s giving 100 percent every time she steps on the tennis court. [These are] all mental assets. I think mentally she has the full package.”
Mouratoglou expanded on Fruhvirtova's noted mental strength: "She has one main quality, which is the mental side. She’s an incredible competitor. She’s an incredible fighter."
"She has the potential to be No. 1, yes she does."
While Mouratoglou and Evert could be a gold stamp in terms of a player's potential, Fruhvirtova has also expanded her team of mentors to include - for a brief spell this year - well-known coach Sven Groeneveld, the former coach of Maria Sharapova (among others), as well as fitness guru Duglass Cordero, who has worked with the likes of Dominic Thiem, Leylah Fernandez and other top stars.
A Harry Styles - and Taylor Swift - fan
And while Fruhvirtova is turning plenty of heads in tennis, she's also a typical teen, too.
She and her sister Brenda attended a Harry Styles concert earlier this year, and playfully offered the British megastar to watch their matches at Wimbledon in July.
"Oh sweet Harry Styles," Fruhvirtova laughed in a video for the Charleston Open. "DM us! We'll get you tickets!"
The sisters are Taylor Swift fans, as well.
"Oh we're Swifties!" Linda assured with a laugh in the same video.
The sisters' talent is no laughing matter, however: January marked the first time the two were competing at a senior-level major together, the Australian Open. They told the media this was always the plan: Competing on the biggest stages against the biggest stars.
Will they become big champions themselves, too? For now, Linda appears to be well on her way to just that.