Beginner's Guide: Linda Fruhvirtova's latest first to come at Australian Open

TENNISTORY: Get to know the Fruhvirtova sisters

The 17-year-old who Patrick Mouratoglou calls "an incredible fighter" is primed for her Australian Open debut.

Linda Fruhvirtova was one of the breakthrough players of the 2022 season, a year in which she scored her first Top 10 win, Grand Slam main-draw victory, and WTA singles title. She soared from outside the Top 275 to a career-high ranking inside the Top 80, supplanting Coco Gauff as the youngest player in the Top 100 in the process.

Get to know the elder of the two Fruhvirtova sisters competing at the Australian Open.

The Basics

The highest-ranked of three Czech teenagers in the Australian Open main draw, and 11 in all, Fruhvirtova enters 2023 on the heels of a 2022 season in which she shaved 200 places off her WTA ranking.

Born in Prague, Linda Fruhvirtova and her younger sister, Brenda (the youngest competitor at the year's Australian Open at age 15) have been training at the famed Mouratoglou Academy since 2017. In 2019, Linda Fruhvirtova won the famed Les Petit As event in France, and in 2020, Brenda followed; they became the first members of the same family to win the prestigious title for players aged 14-and-under in back-to-back years.

Fruhvirtova has been impressing the game's best minds since her earliest days. Two years ago, 18-time Grand Slam champion Chris Evert was effusive in her praise of the then-15-year-old, who reached the quarterfinals at the WTA 250 held in Charleston, S.C. that year in her WTA main-draw debut.

She soon became the youngest player ranked in the Top 400.

“She practiced at my academy ... and was very impressive,” Evert wrote on Twitter that spring. “Playing sets with WTA pros and competing with them showing confidence and skill… She’s got it.”

The Latest

Fruhvirtova made even bigger moves in 2022. In March, she reached the fourth round of the Miami Open as a wild card, the youngest player to get that far at the WTA 1000 event in 18 years. Along the way, she defeated Danka Kovinic, Elise Mertens and Victoria Azarenka before losing to Paula Badosa.

Her Billie Jean King Cup debut came next, as did her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the US Open, where she won a round. But her biggest milestone to date came just after the Grand Slam season ended last fall.

A breakthrough week ended in triumph as she lifted her first-ever WTA singles title in Chennai, India with wins over three seeded players, including No. 3 seed Magda Linette in the final from a set behind. In fact, three of her five victories in the title-winning run came after she lost the first set.

She cracked the Top 100 for the first time as a result.

Why It Matters

One of seven teenagers in the Australian Open main draw, Fruhvirtova will operate in an unfamiliar position in her opening round: She'll mathematically be the favorite against Australian wild card Jaimee Fourlis, ranked No. 160. A win there could see her face 2022 quarterfinalist and No. 31 seed Kaia Kanepi in the second round, with No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur looming large as a possible third-round foe.

It's a path that Fruhvirtova would no doubt relishing conquering, and one that would certainly bolster her credentials in pursuit of a long-term goal to reach the top of the game.

“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, per Eurosport. "She wins because she’s just stepping in, stepping in, hitting, hitting, hitting until you crack. She has one main quality, which is the mental side. She’s an incredible competitor. She’s an incredible fighter.

“She’s feisty. She wants it so bad. She’s giving 100 percent every time she’s stepping on the tennis court. This is all mental assets. I think mentally she has the full package.”