Teenage Hollywood stunt double Thea Frodin becomes instant fan favourite in loss to world No.2 Elena Rybakina at US Open

Thea Frodin once had to hit like Serena Williams in a movie. On Tuesday at the US Open , she showed some pretty good power of her own in real life.

The 17-year-old from California lost to world No.2 Elena Rybakina 6-3, 6-2 while playing her first WTA Tour match in a grand slam tournament.

Frodin fired 11 aces, nearly doubling up one of the best servers in women’s tennis.

She said her movie role in which she had to swing like Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion, doesn’t mean she feels pressure to show extra pop off the racket.

“I feel I have always been an aggressive player. That’s always been kind of my game, just to be aggressive,” the six-foot (183cm) Frodin said

In the 2021 film King Richard’, Frodin was the body double for actor Demi Singleton, who played the younger Williams sister.

Frodin earned the opportunity to audition after winning singles, doubles and mixed doubles sectional titles at the 10-and-under level in California and then spent six months working on set.

Will Smith won an Oscar for his performance as Richard Williams, father to Serena and her sister Venus. Frodin hasn’t met the sisters yet but said she noticed that Smith reposted one of her social media posts.

Frodin played her way into the US Open by winning the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships to earn a wildcard.

She quickly gained more attention than that type of player usually gets because of her ‘King Richard’ experience, but thought she handled that well.

“I mean, I think it’s hard to get away from all of that. It’s kind of just about accepting it and not letting it get to you,” Frodin said.

With fans in the Grandstand chanting her name, Frodin fired consecutive aces after facing match point trailing 5-1, then hit another to erase a third match point Rybakina had earned and eventually held serve.

Rybakina finally finished the match on her fourth try by hitting her sixth ace.

Rybakina didn’t know much about Frodin the player, but said during their scouting her team became aware of her Williams’ role.