(Eagle News) — Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr congratulated Filipina teen tennis sensation Alexandra “Alex” Eala for bringing honor to the country by becoming the country’s first Grand Slam junior champion at the US Open on Saturday and again making history for the Philippines.
President Marcos said the 17-year old Eala made the country proud with her historic win.
“It is with an immense sense of pride and joy that I congratulate Alex Eala on her historic win at the US Open Junior Girls’ Singles Championship,” he said.
“Another Filipina has raised our flag, and made our nation proud. To Alex, thank you for the honour you brought us, and we, your kababayans, wish you all the best in your journey up ahead.”
No. 10 seed Eala defeated Czech No. 2 seed Lucie Havlickova 6-2, 6-4 in the finals, recording another milestone for Philippine tennis.
It is the 17-year-old’s first junior tournament outing since the Orange Bowl last December.
She is the Philippines’ highest-ranked player on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) at 297 in the world.
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.
She comes from a family known in the sports world. Her mother Rizza also made her mark in swimming when she won the bronze in the 1985 Southeast Asian Games in the 100-meter backstroke, and also currently serves as the chief financial officer of Globe Telecom. Her brother, Michael (Miko) plays tennis as well for the Pennsylvania State University. Miko made his debut on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Men’s World Tennis Tour with an opening round finish in the M15 Tay Ninh tilt in Vietnam last June.
Her uncle is Noli Eala, currently the chair of the Philippine Sports Commission and a former Philippine Basketball Association commissioner.
Alex Eala is being trained and has been a student at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar in Manacor, Mallorca, Spain, since she was 12 years old. The Rafa Nadal Academy “prepares players for the future of tennis, applying innovative training systems combined with the characteristics that are synonymous with Rafa and his will to win”
(Eagle News Service with a PNA report)