Filipino tennis player Alex Eala is now known across the globe for overpowering the World No. 3 Lucie Havlickova of the Czech Republic.
All the emotions for Alexandra Eala.
The 🇵🇭 makes history, winning her first junior Grand slam singles 🏆 in straight sets. pic.twitter.com/j1B1NycZ5r
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 10, 2022
Eala is the first Filipino to win the Grand Slam title in the 2022 U.S. Open Tennis Championship in Junior Girl’s Singles. Claiming the championship with a final score of 6-2, 6-4, Eala never ceased to amaze her family and her fellow Filipinos.
The 17-year-old tennis player is also known as the highest ranked Filipino female singles player in Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) history, having been acquired on August 1, 2022.
Already having career-high singles ranking in the world of tennis at an early age, Eala still promises to exceed her current ranking.
Being the daughter of Rosemarie “Rizza” Maniego-Eala who’s also known as a professional swimmer and a bronze medalist in 100-meter backstroke in the 1985 Southeast Asian Games, and being the sister of Michael “Miko” who also plays tennis for the Pennsylvania State University. You can tell that a huge part of the reason she’s this good is the athletic blood running throughout her family, including the support and encouragement in their household for sports and activity.
Eala’s greatness began during the year that she became a student at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain. She has been winning ever since, even if she was only 12 years old at the time she first joined.
Claiming her first championship in the 2020 Australian girls’ doubles event, with Priska Madelyn Nugroho as her partner in the competition. The determined teen athlete even ranked 2nd in the junior rankings as she reached the semifinals at the 2020 French Open girls’ singles competition. Eala’s next champion was Russian tennis player Oksana Selekhmeteva. Both girls fought to acquire the championship during the French Open girls’ doubles tournament.
She recently brought home her first junior singles title and won against World No. 3 Lucie Havlickova of the Czech Republic. The proud Filipina athlete always managed to bring joy to the Filipinos with all these victories and recognition she brought to our country despite competing in singles.
Even though the competition was done in a foreign land, Eala took Filipino pride to the next level by delivering her victory speech in Tagalog.
“So hindi lang ‘to panalo ko. Panalo nating lahat!” Eala declared with a slightly shaky voice due to her tears of joy, as she also didn’t forget to acknowledge those who helped her along the way, giving her appreciation and gratitude for the support of her friends, coaches, family, fans, and other Filipinos who were also watching live.
Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=620936012736877&set=a.200346648129151
Source: https://www.youtube.com/c/usopen, https://twitter.com/usopen, https://www.facebook.com/AlexEala
