Talk about a wild full-circle moment. Five years ago, Thea Frodin was the kid helping King Richard make young Serena Williams look like the tennis force the world already knew she would become. Now, at 17, Frodin is done playing someone else’s story. The California native is stepping onto the US Open stage for herself, and this time, the cameras are not looking past her.

They are looking straight at her, and the timing could not be more unforgiving.

“I’ve only dreamed of moments like this,” Frodin said when reflecting on her main-draw breakthrough. “The fact that I’m here right now, and able to experience it in real life, is still a little bit shocking to me. To be standing here right now and actually getting a chance to play in the main draw, it means everything.”

Her US Open singles debut comes against World No. 2 and Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, about as brutal a first-round draw as a 17-year-old could get.

Frodin has spent years building her own game after once copying Serena Williams for the cameras, and now she may need some of that same fearlessness just to survive one of the toughest tests in women’s tennis.

Frodin earned her place in the main draw by winning the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championships, beating Julieta Pareja 7-6(2), 7-6(4) in the semifinals before crushing Janae Preston 6-1, 6-0 in the final. She first picked up a racket at six, later reached a career-high junior ranking of No. 11, finished runner-up in the 2025 Wimbledon girls’ doubles and made the Australian Open girls’ singles semifinals earlier this year.

Now, at 17, she is making her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

However, Rybakina remains a major concern for Frodin as she moves ahead in her debut journey. “(Rybakina) is number two for a reason, so I’m expecting a battle. Hopefully, I can bring out my best level against her,” Frodin stated ahead of the big match.

Frodin is not the first athlete to go from Hollywood stand-in to the real stage. Australian surfer Isabella Nichols doubled Blake Lively in The Shallows before winning the 2022 Margaret River Pro.

And performing under a spotlight is nothing new for Frodin. At just 12, she was cast as Serena Williams’ on-court tennis body double and stunt double in the Oscar-winning King Richard, spending six months recreating the 23-time Grand Slam champion’s strokes for the cameras.

The film revolved around the journey of Venus and Serena Williams through their father’s lens.

Frodin, already a star at Southern California junior tournaments, was called up due to her striking resemblance to Williams’ style of play and movements.

From Screen to Real-Life Tennis Challenge

Six months of intense filming and mimicking the 23-time Grand Slam winner’s movements helped Frodin develop her own game in real life. Training herself to copy Serena’s unique technique led her to play a similar kind of tennis – with iconic swings and powerful, precise serves.

“Before I was even invited to play the role, I knew who she was. I’m such a big fan of hers. I always have been,” Frodin shared with The Straits Times. “I was super honored to play the role of somebody that I look up to and admire. What Serena has done for all of us is something that I can’t even grasp.”

Frodin’s change in play became so natural that her coaching team had to intervene to help her build her own personal playing style and not like the role of Serena. “After I was done shooting, I kind of got used to her strokes a little bit,” Frodin admitted.

“My coaches were a little bit frustrated with me because I naturally started to hit like her. I picked up Serena’s backhand, her technique with it, but I tried as much as possible to go back to my strokes.”

Frodin later began training full-time in Nashville, Tennessee, while continuing to live in Woodland Hills, California.

There, Frodin refined her game and developed her own style to shine at the ITF junior circuit. Her hard work soon began to reflect on big stages like her run at the Australian Open junior semifinals earlier this year. 

Years of effort have now led Frodin against a Grand Slam champion – Elena Rybakina. For the Kazakh powerhouse, the US Open has presented history opportunity.

By the end of the tournament, she could be sitting at the World No.1 spot, dethroning Aryna Sabalenka. On the other hand, Frodin debuts in the event with hopes for a positive start to her tennis career from here on.

Additionally, Serena Williams has also returned to the US Open after four years, playing alongside her sister Venus Williams in the doubles event.

For Frodin, the moment almost feels scripted. Five years after helping bring a young Serena Williams to life on screen, she is now stepping onto the US Open stage to build a story of her own. Rybakina stands in the way, while Serena is back in New York too. Now Frodin gets the chance to find out whether her real-life Grand Slam debut can deliver a moment even Hollywood could not write.