Who is Anna Frey? Meet the TikTok superstar preparing to make her WTA Tour debut
Tennis is a sport that has helped to create some global superstars over the decades, yet a new star is about to make her first appearance on the professional stage with her star quality already secured.
At the tender age of 16, rising American star Anna Frey is already a huge celebrity on TikTok, with over 2 million followers lapping up her content on her biggest social media platform.
Frey also has a whopping 724k followers on Instagram, so it’s little wonder that there will be huge interest around this teenager when she makes her WTA Tour qualifying debut at the Tennis in the Land tournament in Cleaveland.
The tournament’s organisers have given Frey a wildcard into her first WTA Tour event and such is the interest around her appearance that they have been posting social media messages to confirm when she will play her first match.
Frey has built up her following posting TikTok videos updating her young fans on her daily life and mixing it in with some tennis content.
Now she gets a chance to test herself against professional players for the first time in a strong WTA 250 event that will have plenty of tennis eyes looking down on it a week before the US Open.
Frey’s story exploded earlier his year after some of her TikTok fans suggested she looked a little like San Francisco 49’s quarterback, Brock Purdy.
After Anna appealed to be given a ticket to go to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas to watch Purdy in action, the story went viral in America until the rising tennis star was eventually given a ticket to the biggest game in US sport.
The story gave Frey’s TikTok following a huge boost, with her number of followers quickly surpassing 1 million and that has now moved beyond 2 million.
WTA Tour News
Emma Raducanu set to become ‘part-time’ tennis player unless she changes her current stance
“It’s been drinking out of a firehose,” Frey’s father, Tanner, told Salt Lake City’s FOX 13 as the story blew up at the start of this year.
“We are trying to navigate it, understanding it, what it all means. People calling and chanting her name in different places. It’s been a lot. We mostly just want to make sure she stays safe, keeps a level head and stays focused on tennis.”
Frey’s tennis will now be the focus of attention when she plays in Cleaveland, after being rewarded for her fine performances on court, after she finished as runner-up at the USTA Junior Nationals event earlier this year.
The No 1 junior player in the state of Utah has undoubtedly propelled her chances of getting wildcards into tennis tournaments thanks to her stunning social media rise, but she will also have to prove her qualities on the court.
“Tennis has really helped me to build confidence in myself and become an individual person,” said Frey in one of her TikTok posts.
“I love it because I get to meet so many people from around the world and I get to travel everywhere. It’s so cool to see different parts of the world.
“I’m so grateful to tennis and I wouldn’t change anything in the world.”
Tennis is about to welcome an influencer onto its castlist and if Frey lives up to her billing, she could be a massive asset to the WTA Tour over the next few years.