History enthusiast Frodin bidding to light up Melbourne with her smile

Thea Frodin could be forgiven for looking a little serious during her opening round match at the Australian Open Junior Championships against Poland’s Maja Pawelska played on Court No. 14 on the periphery of Melbourne Park.

Seeded No. 8, the Californian was given a solid workout by the energetic Pawelska before prevailing 3-6 6-3 6-2. The two teens had not played before but Frodin most certainly checking out her opponent pre-match.

“The first place I look is YouTube to see if there's any full matches,” she said. She was in luck.

“But it was on clay, eight months ago, so I wouldn't say it was the most accurate. But if I don't find any matches there, then I'll just ask a bunch of people that I know. Because it's a small world, so one person out of my friend group will have played her, so I'll just ask.”

Sunday’s match was a major contrast to her last outing at the Australian Open a year ago when she lost to home favourite and eventual finalist Emerson Jones. Asked if she likes the bigger courts and occasion, Frodin was unequivocal. 

“I do, I do. It gets me a little more nervous but at the same time my adrenaline just loves it so much. I love it,” she said.

Rod Laver Arena with its 15,000 seats is the venue for Saturday’s girls' final and while it is somewhere the 17-year-old from Woodland Hills in Los Angeles is yet to play, she admits she has “taken a peek”.

Her thinking this week however, is very simple.

“I'd like to go to the semis or the final," she added. "I usually go into every tournament with the mentality of wanting to win it, of course, and that's my goal in each tournament.

“But obviously in the moment and when I'm playing, I just try and take one point at a time.”

Frodin is an athletic player who hits long and hard from the baseline and has a serve (17 aces today) that can get her out of trouble time and again. She is also engaging and smiley in a way the casual tennis spectator might not always notice.

“I just take it very seriously," she said. "I've been trying to put more of a smile on my face on court. My coach was trying to be on me about bringing my personality off-court, to more on-court.”

There is no need. A short chat after her opening round match showed her - as well as sports - to be family and academically oriented. School lessons are impossible given her touring schedule but online lessons are very much on the agenda, but it does take up a considerable amount of time. 

“Kind of a lot of time, actually," she said. "My online programme is pretty tricky but I honestly try and do as much as I can on my off days and a little bit of time in between matches. If I have time, I'll do it.”

Her choice of favourite subject points to worldliness and wider interests.

“I definitely love learning about history, probably learning more about like World War I and II and all of that. I really like 1916 through to 1946.”

She has three half-siblings, aged five and under - which means she is a first rate babysitter - but they are all too young to come and see her play so far.

“One of my half-siblings, her name's Evelina and she is two and a half," she said. "Every time she sees me play, she always wants to play as well.”

Getting going with a tennis career in California - one of the American powerhouse tennis states alongside Texas and Florida - has not always been the major advantage it might seem to the outsider.

“Honestly, it's actually a little bit hard because in Los Angeles, it's so big," she added. "So a lot of different players are scattered all around and trying to find hits, but it's on average an hour and a half away from everyone.

“So it has been a a little tricky, actually to find people to hit with. But I would say as a base, there's a lot of good academies to start tennis there.”

A geographical move though is in the offing, Frodin’s coach Eric Kortland (who also coaches fellow LA player Learer Tien) is based 2,000 miles away (or a 29-hour car ride) in Nashville, Tennessee.

And the weather there right now is very different to the year round sunshine of Los Angeles.

“I don't mind the snow,” she said. “I heard it's there's going to be a snowstorm, I haven't experienced that.”

A full list of results from the 2026 Australian Open Junior Championships is available here.