'It would be great to be the next Williams sisters': Brenda reveals Fruhvirtova sisters’ high hopes

Amid the sheer and unmatched dominance of Iga Swiatek throughout 2022, a section of ardent WTA fans had their eyes on two budding stars from Czech Republic - the Fruhvirtová sisters. The elder, Linda, 17, hogged limelight after beating two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka in a controversy-marred Miami Open clash last year and six months later, she lifted her maiden WTA title at the Chennai Open, which helped her break into the top 100. Linda now stands on the doorstep of top-50 WTA ranking, having reached a career-high 51 in January 2023. The younger, Brenda, 15, was the cynosure in the ITF circuit. The former junior world No. 3 picked up eight singles titles, which comprised 27 consecutive wins at W25 tournaments. The run was preceded by a main draw debut on WTA tour against 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens back in February, and later rewarded with a Grand Slam main draw appearance at the Australian Open earlier this January. She had made it past the qualifiers before losing in the opening round to Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Following the footsteps of her sister, and hoping to emulate the same, Brenda has now arrived in India for the KPB Trust ITF Women’s Open which begins from Tuesday onwards. The W40 tournament is being organised by Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) at Bengaluru's Cubbon Park. The top-seeded Czech will face qualifier Ya-Hsuan Lee in her opener.

Speaking to Hindustan Times Digital in an exclusive interview, world no. 163 Brenda talks about her journey so far in tennis, the blockbuster 2022 season leading to the Australian Open main draw appearance and about her expectations in the ITF Women’s Open. Here are excerpts...

Q) Is this your first time in India? How does it feel?

Yes, this is my first time. It's definitely a special place. It's completely different from where I am from. where I live. It's pretty interesting and how things work there...for example the monkeys (laughs)...it's all pretty fun and I'm enjoying it.

Q) You won eight ITF titles in 2022 and then went on to make your WTA debut - how would you look back at that run?

Yes it was a great year for me and gave me a lot of confidence in my game as well. Now I'm just looking forward to play here.

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Q) How do you tend to deal with all the attention and the expectations at such a young age?

Actually, I'm pretty much used to it. Very early on both of us got a lot of attention from the media and such. It is actually very normal for us and at times we also tend to enjoy it a little bit (laughs). As for expectations, I tend to concentrate more on myself because people who watch don't really know what goes on behind the scenes. Yes there is a bit of pressure when you are at this age a bit high in the ranking, but I am learning to deal with it.

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Q) How did tennis happen to you?

We both started very young and somehow tennis was always like the main sport. My sister started playing tennis first and when I saw her I wanted to play as well. And we got support from our family as well. They kind of wanted us to be involved in the sport and hence that was never an issue.

Q) Is there sort of rivalry or banter as to who is the better player between the two sisters?

We actually share a very good relationship so we don't really take each other as rivals. We also don't travel so much together for tournaments, but we did go for the Australian Open together earlier this year. But last year we didn't play any tournaments together.

Q) You mentioned the Australian Open, where you made your maiden Grand Slam main draw appearance in January. Could you talk us through the experience?

It was a great experience to play such a high level of tennis. I went there with no expectations at all. But somehow, I made it through the qualifiers which gave me a lot of confidence.

Q) Marion Bartoli said, "The Fruhvirtova sisters are the future of tennis". What do you see in that perspective? Do you see the two of you become the next William sisters?

It is really tough to say right now because it is a long way still but yes that would be great.

Q) When your sister came to India last year, she won the Chennai Open. Did she give you any tips on how to accustom the conditions here?

Yes, for sure she told me how it is here and how hot the climate is. But she loved India and hopefully it can be a winning place for me too.

Q) How do you fancy your chances in this tournament?

The goal of every tournament is to win the tournament but in tennis you never know what's going to happen. For sure my expectations from the tournament are high and I'm not going to put a lot of pressure on myself. I would rather take it match by match.

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