Alex Eala reveals when ‘Rafa Nadal Academy reached out to me’
Alex Eala has given insight into her journey from playing tennis as an extracurricular activity as a young child to moving to Spain at the age of 13 to train at the Rafa Nadal Academy.
The 20-year-old has enjoyed a rapid rise in the past 18 months as she started the 2025 tennis season at No 147 in the WTA Rankings, but three months later she shot to fame when she became the first Filipino to break into the top 100.
Her breakout moment came at the Miami Open as she earned a wildcard entry and went on to beat Grand Slam winners Jelena Ostapenko, Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek en route to the semi-finals before her journey was ended by Jessica Pegula.
She surged into the top 80 on the back of that run and two months later she reached her maiden WTA Tour final at Eastbourne before losing to Maya Joint in straight sets. Later in the year she became the first Filipina to win a Grand Slam match when she reached the second round of the US Open.
Eala eventually cracked the top 50 and she has become a firm favourite with tennis fans, not only those from the Philippines.
But where did her tennis story start?
“Tennis is in my family – I was coached by my grandfather for the first 10 years of my ‘career’. From 3.5 to 13 (years old), it was him and I was training every day with my brother,” she told WTATennis.com.
“He had also coached a couple of my older cousins, so it really started as a way for me to bond with him. Of course, my parents wanted – I think sports as an extracurricular teaches you a lot of stuff. My parents would come with me and we would compete internationally.
“We started obviously in Asia, and then we would go to Europe as well. America. Then I guess a big opportunity came when I won Les Petit (2018). I went with my dad. We were just there and we won it and Rafa Nadal Academy reached out to me, so that was a big thing. I moved to Spain at 13.”
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Eala won the Les Petits As event for Under-14 players at Tarbes, France, in 2018.
She will no doubt hope to follow in the footsteps of other former champions like Rafael Nadal, Michael Chang, Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Jeļena Ostapenko and Bianca Andreescu who went on to become Grand Slam winners.
Since her breakthrough, Eala has become a household name for Filipinos around the globe and her army of fans often fills stadiums when she is competing, bringing a quite unique atmosphere to tennis matches, which has impressed the likes of Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.
“Being loud and proud, especially when it comes to cultures, is so important and us Filipinos, there are very few nationalities that I see are as loud and proud as us,” Eala said. “There are just so many of us that I think it should be celebrated, that there’s someone who’s on the world stage, representing the Philippines.
“I’m very proud to be able to do that for my country. Then again, it’s about balance. I’m focused when I need to be focused. I’m very professional.
“It’s my first year on tour, but I feel I’m able to handle these things really well. I know that if I don’t put in the work, everything else won’t follow, because it’s you put in the work and then things will follow.”
