Thea Frodin: From Serena Williams' Double to US Open Debut

Thea Frodin used to be Serena Williams. Now she wants to face her own close-up.

Five years ago, before ranking points or Grand Slam dreams really meant anything, a 12-year-old Frodin was hired to be the tennis-playing body double for young Serena in the Oscar-nominated film King Richard. Her job was simple and surreal: move like her idol, hit like her idol, become her idol on court.

She did it with Will Smith a few metres away, playing Richard Williams, the relentless father who built Serena and Venus into champions.

“Being able to play the role of somebody that I looked up to for my whole life was super special,” Frodin told the WTA website. “I was honoured. She was one of the players that I looked up to most, just when I was starting to play. She’s such an inspiration to me.”

Back then, the big stage was a movie set. Now it is Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The 19-year-old American will make her main-draw singles debut at her home major, the US Open, a tournament Serena and Venus will grace together again this year in doubles. It is the kind of symmetry tennis rarely offers: the girl who once pretended to be Serena stepping into the same Grand Slam, on the same hard courts, chasing her own name on the scoreboard.

The draw showed no mercy. Or maybe it offered the perfect test.

Waiting for Frodin in round one is world number two Elena Rybakina, a two-time major champion and the reigning Australian Open winner. For a player ranked 580th in the world, it is a mountain. It is also exactly the sort of mountain that can change a career.

“I’m trying to stay in the moment as much as possible,” Frodin said. “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.”

She has already had a taste of pressure, just of a very different kind. On the set of King Richard, Frodin spent a few days each week over six months hitting balls under lights, cameras and strict timelines. Smith, in full Richard Williams mode, shared those courts with her, but it was the small gestures that stayed with her.

She remembers him arriving on cold, wet days with hot water to keep her warm between takes, making sure the young body double dressed as Serena stayed comfortable enough to keep swinging. Hollywood star, Oscar winner, global icon — and the man making sure a teenager didn’t freeze between scenes.

The tennis, though, left its mark in a more complicated way.

To make the film believable, Frodin had to copy Serena’s strokes so closely that imitation turned into habit. By the time shooting wrapped, she was no longer just channeling Serena. She was playing like her.

“After I was done shooting, I got used to her strokes,” Frodin told the US Open website. “My coaches were a bit frustrated because I naturally started to hit like her. I picked up Serena’s backhand, but I tried as much as possible to go back to my strokes.”

It is a revealing detail. The girl who spent her childhood idolising Serena, then half a year literally moving as Serena, had to unlearn some of the greatest shots the sport has ever seen to rediscover herself.

Now she walks into Flushing Meadows with that history behind her and one of the best players in the world across the net. No script, no retakes, no choreographed rallies. Just Thea Frodin, no longer anyone’s double, trying to prove she belongs on the same stage where her childhood hero became a legend.