Alex Eala makes ‘fangirling’ confession about Rafael Nadal as she recalls first meeting the Spaniard
Rising WTA star Alex Eala has recalled her first two encounters with Rafael Nadal as she revealed she ran after the tennis icon at Madrid airport.
The 2025 French Open will mark Alex Eala’s Grand Slam main draw debut, with the world No 69 set to face 88th-ranked Emiliana Arango in her opening match.
Eala has lost in the qualifying round at majors six times, but her stunning breakthrough run at the 2025 Miami Open in March lifted her ranking well inside the top 100 — allowing her to make the main draw cut at Roland Garros.
The Filipina, who was a wildcard in Miami, stunned Iga Swiatek, Madison Keys and Jelena Ostapenko at the WTA 1000 event.
The world No 69, who turned 20 on May 23, will make history by becoming the first player from the Philippines to play a main draw singles match at a Grand Slam.
Eala has trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca since 2018, and she spoke fondly about her first meetings with the legendary Spaniard.
“The first time I met Rafa, I was on the way to his academy,” Eala said in an interview with the WTA Tour.
“Oh my gosh! I was on the way to his academy because I was going to try it out before, before we committed, I was just going to try it out for a week.”
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“And then we ran into him in the airport, in the Madrid airport, and we — it’s kind of embarrassing to say — we kind of ran after, like, not run after, but, you know, we were fangirling, and then, and then we told him, ‘we’re going to your academy’, and stuff like that.
“And then he took a picture with us, and I’ll try to find that picture, yeah, but that was the first time I actually met Rafa.
“Oh my gosh, that was the second time! The first time I met Rafa, he came to my school in Manila for a clinic before his like, a tour, you know, before opening his academy.
“I was probably 10, and it was a big, it was a big event, and they literally held the clinic in the courts of my school, and I remember Toni [Nadal] fed me a couple of balls.
“Yeah, there’s a video on YouTube of it. And I talked to Toni about that, that he fed me a few balls while he was in Manila. I mean, he doesn’t remember, probably, but I swear, I swear it happened (laughs).”
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