Alexandra Eala became the Philippines’ first Grand Slam junior champion at the US Open on Saturday, using her “idol” Rafael Nadal for inspiration.
The 17-year-old Filipina defeated French Open girls champion Lucie Havlickova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-4 in the final.
“My idol is obviously Rafa. He’s a very good role model, something a lot of people should idolise and try to be,” said Eala who is based at the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s academy in Spain.
“The biggest thing I notice in Rafa is how he fights till the end, how his thoughts are so clear.
“He’s so calm, but at the same time so fired up. I think I really tried to channel that energy during this whole week.”
Eala was playing her first junior tournament since the Orange Bowl in Florida last December.
Since then, she became the first Filipina to both contest and win a WTA main draw match when she defeated Paula Ormaechea at Cluj-Napoca in August.
Eala is already her country’s highest ranked player on the WTA at 297 in the world.
Her brother, 20-year-old Michael, who plays college tennis in the United States, is currently the Philippines’ leading man on the ATP, albeit at a lowly 1,506.
Eala, the no. 10 seed just needed 68 minutes to conquer Havlickova who is the world No. 3 and reigning French Open girls’ singles reigning champion. She thus made history as the first Filipino to win a junior Grand Slam singles title.
The event happened at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.
“I think I played very well and was mentally strong and I am happy I was able to keep my composure throughout the match,” said Eala during her post-match press conference.
“It’s very overwhelming right now. But I think this is a huge step for me personally as well. I am super happy to represent my country and do something worth for the big platform and being able to inspire other younger people,” she said.
“I am very happy with the way I handled each and every point. I had a lot of moments in this tournament where I was down, and I could have lost a set and could have gotten mad easily but I didn’t. I think my behavior throughout the whole week was something I can be proud of,” said the 5-foot-9 Eala, who is based at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy in Mallorca, Spain for the past four years.
To reach the final, she beat No. 8 Australian Taylah Preston, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1); No. 14 Russian Mirra Andreeva, 6-4, 6-0; and No. 9 Canadian Victoria Mboko, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).
Eala now has three junior Grand Slam titles, including the two doubles coming from the 2021 French Open with Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva and the 2020 Australian Open with Indonesian Priska Madelyn Nugroho. She had a career-high ranking of No. 2 in October 2020 following a semifinal appearance at the French Open girls’ singles.
As a pro, Eala is currently No. 297 in the WTA rankings. This year, she won her first ITF W25 title in Chiang Rai, Thailand and was a losing finalist at the ITF W60 event in Madrid to reach a career-high of No. 280 in July.
Eala debuted at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games held in the Philippines, winning the bronze medals in women’s singles, women’s team event and mixed doubles with Filipino-American Treat Conrad Huey.
‘Will go a long way’
Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino said Eala would go a long way.
“Alex will go a long, long way in her tennis career, which, is just budding,” Tolentino said in a statement on Sunday.
In his Facebook post, Tolentino thanked Eala for bringing home another honor to the country.
“We expect Alex to bring more honors to the country, and her accomplishment would definitely inspire young Filipinos to follow in her footsteps,” he said.
(R)