Serena and Venus Williams are the most notable sibling duo in the history of tennis.

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The Williams sisters dominated the WTA Tour throughout the 2000s in particular, with Serena and Venus playing each other in multiple Grand Slam finals.

However, professional tennis players can only compete for so long, and that was the case when Serena retired at the 2022 US Open.

Venus is still playing at 45 years old, but two up-and-coming sisters were picked out to fill the void that the Williams sisters left.

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The Fruhvirtova sisters: Once compared to Serena and Venus Williams

Czech sisters Linda and Brenda Fruhvirtova both showed a lot of promise from a young age, and a lot of people started to talk about them.

Both coming through the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy, there was a lot of hope for the Fruhvirtova sisters that started to become reality in 2022.

That was when older sister Linda made a breakthrough, starting at the Miami Open where she beat Victoria Azarenka and Elise Mertens en route to reaching the last-16.

This enabled the then 16-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova to break into the top 200 for the first time, and she would take that even further after qualifying to make her Grand Slam debut at the US Open, where she would win her first round match.

Linda would continue this momentum into her next tournament, the Indian Open, where she would beat three seeded players to win her first WTA title.

As a result, she made her top 100 debut and it was not long until her younger sister, Brenda, would make an emergence as well.

After qualifying for the 2023 Australian Open, Brenda Fruhvirtova made her Grand Slam main draw debut at just 15 years old.

This meant that both the Fruhvirtova sisters, who had a combined age of 32, were competing in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time.

While Brenda lost her first round main draw match, her older sister Linda would make a breakthrough run and make it all the way to the fourth round.

Brenda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic plays a forehand in their round one singles match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich during day one of the 2023 Australian Open at Melbourne Park.
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As a result of their early success and both being sisters, comparisons between the Fruhvirtovas and the Williams sisters began.

This is even something that Linda was asked about in her Australian Open press conference, but she tried to take the pressure off them.

“Well, of course, it’s an honor, but I don’t really — I wouldn’t really compare us to Serena or Venus,” Linda Fruhvirtova said at the time. “You know, they’re legends of the sport.

“We always loved to watch them on the court, you know, when we were younger, and they’re definitely an inspiration, but we never wanted to copy anyone. Yeah, I don’t think it’s right to compare us.

“It’s true we’re both sisters. We can be good, and we’ll see what happens, but I think it’s too soon to compare us to Serena and Venus.”

It was not just fans and journalists making big claims about the Fruhvirtova sisters, but also former players.

When speaking on an episode of Match Points, former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli claimed that she felt the Fruhvirtova sisters were going to be ‘the future of women’s tennis’.

“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,” said Bartoli.

“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.”

Despite the hype that both sisters received after the 2023 Australian Open, things have not quite worked out as expected.

What has happened to the Fruhvirtova sisters?

Things have not gone so smoothly for both of the Fruhvirtova sisters since these big claims were made about them.

After Linda had a drop-off in form, it was actually the younger Brenda who was the higher-ranked of the two and actually made her top 100 debut in July 2024.

This came as a result of an impressive result for Brenda at Wimbledon, where she beat fellow teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva.

Brenda Fruhvirtova of Czechia plays a backhand against Paula Badosa of Spain in her Ladies' Singles second round match during day four of The Championships Wimbledon 2024 at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
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However, Brenda was hampered by injury in the latter stages of the 2024 season and fell out of the top 100.

Returning to action at the start of 2025, Brenda nearly qualified for the Australian Open once again, but was forced to take a lengthy break after suffering a back injury at an ITF event in Bengaluru.

Linda Fruhvirtova
Brenda Fruhvirtova

Career-high Ranking
No.49
No.87

Current Ranking
No.138
No.810

Best result at a Grand Slam
Fourth Round (Australian Open 2023)
Second Round (Australian Open 2024, Wimbledon 2024)

Best result at a WTA Tour event
Won the Indian Open (2022)
Second Round (Italian Open 2024)

Brenda, who has now fallen down to world number 810, recently returned to competition on the lower level circuit, but was forced to retire again from her most recent match.

While Linda is also still ranked outside the top 100, she has made some positive strides back to form after reaching two WTA 125 finals this year.

Although they may not have reached the heights that many expected them to, both Fruhvirtova sisters are still very young and have years to reach their potential.