3rd round in 2019, 2020 and 2023
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Linda Fruhvirtova
Best WTA ranking 49
- Country Czech Republic
- Age 19 years
- Size 1.72 m
- Jeu Right-handed, two-handed backhand
Special feature: The most dominant winner in the history of the Petits As (losing just 15 games in 2019).
Profile & career
A member of the Mouratoglou Academy since 2017, notably as the winner of Patrick Mouratoglou’s ChampSeed Foundation, Czech Linda Fruhvirtova (Brenda’s elder sister) is in the process of establishing herself on the WTA Tour, where her ambitions are overflowing.
Ever since she was a child, Linda Fruhvirtova has always been in the spotlight, as her game and results have raised the wildest of expectations. In particular, her victory in the 2019 Petits As left a lasting impression on the tennis world. Despite this added pressure, she has made a stunning transition to the big leagues: first professional tournament at 14, first wins on the main circuit (and first ITF titles) at 15, first WTA title at 17, she then broke into the top 50 at 18 in June 2023 (ranked 49th), a few months after reaching her first Grand Slam round of 16 at the Australian Open. This is her highest ranking to date.
LINDA'S TRACK RECORD
Junior career: 5 ITF titles, world no. 2
Extremely precocious, winning the 2019 Petits As by dropping just 15 games en route (a record), Linda began her career on the international circuit at a very early age. Selected at just 12 for the Junior World Cup at the end of 2017 – just a few weeks after hitting the ball with Roger Federer at the first edition of the Laver Cup, played at her home in Prague – she went on to enjoy a brilliant career in the category, winning five ITF titles, reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon before finishing 2021 as world No 2. At the same time, she was already well into her pro career.
WTA honours list: A title and a
"revelation" in Miami
After winning three titles on the ITF circuit, Linda Fruhvirtova opened her record on the WTA circuit with victory in Chennai on hard court in September 2022. Ranked 130th in the world at the time, she showed character and resilience, winning three matches in three sets, including the final against Magda Linette. A title that propelled her into the top 100, of which she became the youngest member at the age of 17.
But it was just a few months earlier, in the spring of 2022, that Linda Fruhvirtova had made her name by reaching the last 16 of the WTA 1000 in Miami, including a victory over former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka. She was eliminated by Paula Badosa, the WTA No 2 that year. All this while being ranked “only” 279th and needing a wildcard to enter. At 16, the Czech became the youngest player to reach this stage of the Florida tournament since Maria Sharapova and Tatiana Golovin in 2004.
LINDA & THE GRAND SLAMS
By the age of 18, at the end of 2023, Linda Fruhvirtova had played in every Grand Slam tournament, recording her best result that year in Australia.
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2nd round in 2019
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3rd round in 2024
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4th round in 2024
Statistics & records
- 1st player born in 2005 to play a junior grand slam
- 2022 youngest player in the top 100
- 2023 youngest player to reach the quarters of the Australian Open since Coco Gauff
- 2019 The most dominant winner in the history of the Petits As (15 games lost)
Link with
the Mouratoglou Academy
Linda Fruhvirtova was just 11 years old when, in 2017, she was taken under the wing of ChampSeed, the Mouratoglou Academy foundation that helps budding young champions to achieve their ambitions. Followed in particular by Mathis di Maio, the foundation’s technical coordinator, Linda then very quickly saw her career take off at youth level, and then with the big boys. Impressed by her potential, Patrick Mouratoglou described her as having “everything it takes to become world No 1, with her main asset being her mental strength, in the broadest sense of the term: she’s an incredible fighter and an incredible competitor”. Linda Fruhvirtova continues to train regularly at the Academy.
GAME & EQUIPMENT
Her game:
A pure product of the Czech school, Linda Fruhvirtova relies in particular on a brilliant backhand with which she can hit very hard, in all positions, but which she also likes to slice from time to time, to break the rhythm. Linda describes herself as a tactical player, who likes to vary angles, spin and trajectories, while trying to outflank her opponents with early shots. A little less powerful and less aggressive than her younger sister Brenda, she nevertheless makes very few mistakes and excels in the short game thanks to the quality of her hands. Sometimes, when she’s overwhelmed on the backhand side, she even hits Maria Sharapova-style ‘lefty shots’!
Equipment:
Linda plays with a Wilson Blade 16×19 racket.
Personal Life
& Interests
A native and still resident of Prague, Linda Fruhvirtova, like her little sister Brenda, was trained by her father, Hynek Fruhvirt, at Sparta Prague, the famous club in the Czech capital where Thomas Berdych, the Pliskova sisters and Radek Stepanek, among others, also played. A fan of sport in general, and of ice hockey and football in particular, she says she enjoys singing, travelling and spending time with her family, especially sister Brenda, whom she has always said is more promising than she is.
