Alex Eala reveals bizarre ‘first interaction’ with Rafael Nadal ahead of joining his academy
Alex Eala has revealed that she first met Rafael Nadal by accident just days before she officially joined the Spaniard’s academy in Mallorca.
World No 29 Eala is among the most prominent players to have progressed and graduated through the Rafa Nadal Academy, which is based in the tennis icon’s hometown in Mallorca.
The Filipina has become one of the biggest stars in tennis ever since her breakout run at the Miami Open twelve months ago, and still trains at the academy when she is not travelling to tournaments.
Eala has previously spoken about how Nadal is her tennis idol and how the 22-time Grand Slam champion has often offered her advice, though it appears her first meeting with the Spaniard came in rather unusual circumstances.
Rather than first meeting Nadal in Manacor, the 20-year-old has revealed in a recent interview with Served that she and her family stumbled upon the tennis great whilst travelling to the academy.
“So, the first interaction with Rafa, like in the academy space, around that time, was not actually in the academy,” she said.
“Before, we did a trial, we’d go there like: ‘One week, we’ll see how it goes.’ So my parents and my brother, and I, we flew over.
“In the Madrid airport, we just happen to pass by Rafa on the way to his Academy. We all chased him down.
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“[It was like]: ‘We’re going to your academy, can we take a pic?’ And yeah, he took a pic with us, so that was the first interaction I remember in Spain. A good way to start, I would say.”
Nadal has publicly congratulated Eala for a number of her recent successes, and the two shared a special practice session during the off-season ahead of 2026.
However, the Filipina admits that she still finds it difficult to talk to the 39-year-old whenever they do spend time together.
Eala added: “After that, I don’t really remember. He’s just there a lot, and he’s very down to earth when you talk to him, of course.
“He asks questions and things like that, but it’s just [that] he’s Rafa, so you’re always going to be scared. Like I’m always still scared — I don’t know what to say, I always get very tongue-tied.
“I’ll let you know, it doesn’t get better, or at least, it doesn’t get easier.”
Eala was recently in action at the Miami Open, where she fell to a heavy 6-0, 6-2 defeat against 13th seed Karolina Muchova in the fourth round.
Defeat for the 20-year-old means that she will drop back outside the top 40 of the WTA Rankings next week, with Eala only able to defend 120 of the 390 ranking points from her run to the semi-final twelve months ago.
However, she will have the chance to bounce back when she kickstarts her clay-court season at the Linz Open, a WTA 500 event being held in two weeks.
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