"Fruhvirtova sisters are the future of tennis" - says Marion Bartoli
WTA
Linda Fruhvirtova and Brenda Fruhvirtova both made the Australian Open main draw, and Marion Bartoli thinks they are the future of tennis.
The sisters have been discussed for some time due to their phenomenal talent as young players. Linda is 17 years old, while her younger sister is just 15, an extraordinarily young age to play WTA tournaments.
Brenda's rise brings back memories of Coco Gauff, who lost to Jelena Ostapenko at the Australian Open. The American reached the fourth round of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships at the age of 15, including a triumph against Venus Williams in the opening round.
While Brenda did not advance past the opening round of this year's Australian Open, her appearance in the main draw at 15 was remarkable and something to be incredibly proud of, regardless of her performance.
Linda had an exceptional Australian Open campaign. The Czech progressed to the fourth round and came close to reaching the quarterfinals, losing in a three-set battle against Donna Vekic.
2013 Wimbledon champion Bartoli is highly impressed by their progress. The Italian thinks the talented young duo have great futures ahead and that women's tennis needs new players to come through.
"For Brenda to be able to go into the main draw at such a young age and for Linda to be in the fourth round and go into three sets against Donna Vekic, knowing how young they are…you can see this whole new generation starting to push, the under-18s."
"That for me is going to be very interesting for women’s tennis. We need to have some rivalries taking place; we need to have some new, young girls that our young kids can be excited about. I feel those girls can be the future of women’s tennis and can really push the ones who are established to do better and to push them to their highest."
