Alex Eala may have hit major milestones this year, but she is still pushing herself to reach the next level.
Alex Eala has come a long way since she won her historic junior singles title at the 2022 US Open. Today, at 19 years old, she is a full-fledged professional competing against some of the world’s top-ranked tennis players.
This year alone she has traveled all over the world — from Australia to Abu Dhabi to France to England and a whole lot more — competing in major tournaments, the qualifiers for the four major Grand Slams chief among them.
“Sometimes it’s very surreal when I go to the slams or other big stages because if you look back, parang, minsan nakakahiyang because I started in places like Palawan, Tarlac, and traveling over the Philippines to play tennis, and now I’m traveling all over the world and I’m really living my dream,” she shared in a short press conference after watching the DLSU vs. UP showdown on November 10, Sunday.
However, she also admits that is “very ambitious” — and is far from satisfied
Reaching new heights
Looking back on her journey in 2024, Alex Eala admits that she did not start the season as well as she might have hoped. As she reflects, “During the start of the year, I think I wobbled a bit and lost my way.”
The 19-year-old started the year with early losses in Australia, losing in the first round of qualifiers for both the Workday Canberra International and the Australian Open. Not an ideal way to kick off a new year, but she started to pick up her momentum as she took on new challenges.
The left-handed ace started to compete in bigger tournaments in 2024. Having started her professional career playing in the $15,000 and $25,000 competitions, this year, she began to see more action in the higher rungs of the tennis world, competing in major open tournaments and $100,000-level competitions. Inevitably, she faced tougher opponents.
Currently sitting at 158th on the WTA rankings, Eala has had to go head-to-head with some players higher in the ranks. In the Madrid Open last April, she defeated 41st Lesia Tsurekno in the Round of 128 before losing to Sorana Cirstea in the following round. More recently, she also faced 37th Katerina Siniakova in the Wuhan Open in China.
