Latest news with #AlexEala
GMA Network
6 days ago
- General
- GMA Network
Alex Eala falls short in Birmingham Classic
Tennis - Madrid Open - Park Manzanares, Madrid, Spain - April 24, 2025 Philippines' Alex Eala during her round of 64 match against Poland's Iga Swiatek REUTERS/Juan Medina Alex Eala fell short in her Birmingham Classic campaign in the United Kingdom as she suffered early exits in both singles and doubles tournaments. In a match that lasted for 2 hours and 53 minutes, the third-seeded Eala narrowly lost to Czech player Linda Fruhvirtová, 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-1, in the first round of the singles tourney on early Wednesday (Philippine time). After two close sets, Fruhvirtova quickly recovered with a 4-1 lead in the third set before eventually claiming the victory. The 20-year old player from Czechia is ranked 152nd by the Women's Tennis Association. On Monday, Eala and Swiss partner Rebeka Masarova fell to the Australian duo of Storm Hunter and Ellen Perez, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the doubles tournament. Prior to these, the 20-year old Eala, currently ranked 73rd in the world, also suffered a first round exit in the French Open singles tourney, and a second round exit in the Roland Garros doubles last week. —JKC, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
27-05-2025
- Sport
- GMA Network
Alex Eala vows to come back stronger after early exit in French Open women's singles
Tennis - Madrid Open - Park Manzanares, Madrid, Spain - April 24, 2025 Philippines' Alex Eala during her round of 64 match against Poland's Iga Swiatek REUTERS/Juan Medina Filipina tennis ace Alex Eala vowed to come back stronger after her early exit in the 2025 French Open women's singles tournament. Eala fell to Colombia's Emiliana Arango in the first round of the tourney last Sunday. "First Grand Slam main draw in the books! Back to the drawing board for now, but will come back stronger next time," she wrote in a social media post on Tuesday (Philippine time). Eala, however, will still compete in the doubles tournament which will commence tonight at 9:00 p.m. She paired with Renata Zarazúa of Mexico and they will face the duo of United Kingdom's Emily Appleton and Spain's Yvonne Cavallé Reimers in the first round. —JKC, GMA Integrated News
Filipino Times
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Filipino Times
Alex Eala climbs to WTA No. 69, sets sights on Roland-Garros
Filipina tennis sensation Alex Eala continues her impressive rise on the international circuit, climbing one spot in the latest WTA rankings. She moved from World No. 70 to No. 69, strengthening her status as one of the sport's brightest young talents. Following her campaign at the WTA 1000 Italia Open, Eala is now gearing up for her debut at Roland-Garros. Eala makes her Grand Slam women's singles main draw debut against Colombia's Emiliana Arango in the first round of the 2025 French Open on Sunday afternoon (Manila time). In the Italian Open, Eala and American star Coco Gauff saw their impressive run come to a narrow end after a hard-fought quarterfinal defeat to the tournament's defending champions and home crowd favorites, Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani. Despite the quarterfinal exit, Eala and Gauff leave Rome with their heads held high-having proven they can stand toe-to-toe with the sport's best. The result may not have gone their way, but the partnership has sparked interest and optimism for future collaborations on the doubles court. Coming from a country with limited tennis exposure, Eala has shattered expectations and become a beacon of inspiration for young athletes in the Philippines and beyond. With a string of high-profile tournaments ahead and her form peaking, Eala's future looks brighter than ever. From her next serve to her next win, Alex Eala's journey is one to follow—and it's only just beginning. —Alona Cochon
Newsweek
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Tennis Star Alex Eala on Making History—'This Is the Life I Dreamed Of'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. It's a cliché to say that the teenage years are a time of quick changes and nonstop milestones. For Alex Eala, though, that truism exists on an entirely different level. Consider the 19-year-old tennis player's 2025 to date. At the Miami Open, the Filipina ace made international headlines by knocking off Madison Keys and Iga Świątek, two of the top five players in the world. That pushed Eala into the WTA Top 100, making both personal and national history. Alexandra Eala of the Philippines reacts to defeating Iga Swiatek of Poland in the quarter-final on Day 9 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 26, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida Alexandra Eala of the Philippines reacts to defeating Iga Swiatek of Poland in the quarter-final on Day 9 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 26, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida Robert Prange/Getty Eala was in Spain for the recent Madrid Open during the massive blackout that halted life on the Iberian Peninsula, made her Italian Open debut in early May—where she also reached the doubles quarterfinals with current No. 2 Coco Gauff—and will enter a Grand Slam via the main draw for the first time at the French Open, rather than as a wild card, thanks to her boost in the ranking from No. 140 to 75 after Miami. Think that sounds like a lot? Well, you're not entirely wrong. But Eala tries to take it in her stride. "Well, for me, I think it's important to keep things simple because sometimes if you read into things too much, it can get very overwhelming," Eala told Newsweek. "And, you know, with being able to navigate blackouts or navigate losses, you know, in the end, these are experiences that you're going to be talking about in 20 years' time and tell, I don't know, your kids, your friends, 'Oh, this happened.' Courtesy of Alex Eala "And this is the, like, the life on tour, the life of a tennis player, the life that I've dreamed of ever since I was little. So, to be able to just live it and to be surrounded by all of these great players and great people who've achieved so many things...I feel so grateful and so blessed." Saying "since I was little" may feel a bit different when a teenager says it, but in this case there is truth to the sentiment. Her parents, Mike and Rizza, encouraged Eala and older brother Miko to play tennis from a young age. "I started [playing tennis] because it was a way for me to bond with my grandfather. My parents knew that they wanted their kids to really get into sports, and my brother, who's three years older, kind of led the way. I would go as a baby to his practices, and I would watch him. So my parents, when it was time, just decided, 'OK, Alex, it's your turn.' I fell in love with it ever since," Eala said. Courtesy of Alex Eala And while tennis isn't the biggest sport on the Philippines' athletic scene, that family affair kept Eala engaged as her peers looked elsewhere. "Growing up, a lot of my classmates in school would be basketball," Eala said. "They would be dancing, or they would be doing ballet, stuff like that. "Tennis was such a big part of my life in particular, I was surrounded by so much of it. And, you know, that's how my love for the sport really grew and really fostered." Reaching the International Stage Ultimately, though, it was time to move on to a bigger pond. "We all knew that if I really wanted to succeed, I'd have to get out of the Philippines to develop my game," Eala said. And that opportunity arrived thanks to the Rafa Nadal Academy in the Spanish star's hometown of Manacor, Spain, in 2018. Moving across the world and dropping into an elite sporting environment might sound stressful, but Eala wasn't daunted. While she might have learned to play tennis far from the sport's traditional hotbeds, she was no stranger to hard work. Alexandra Eala of the Philippines celebrates with father Michael Eala after defeating Iga Swiatek of Poland in the quarter-final on Day 9 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 26, 2025 in... Alexandra Eala of the Philippines celebrates with father Michael Eala after defeating Iga Swiatek of Poland in the quarter-final on Day 9 of the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium on March 26, 2025 in Miami Gardens, Florida More Robert Prange/Getty "It's definitely an intense environment in the Academy. But it was hella intense when I was back home. You know, we took this thing seriously, I can tell you. My family and I, we really took tennis seriously," Eala said. "I used to wake up at, like, 4:45. I was in the gym by 5 a.m. at, like, 12 years old. really treasure the sport, and we put a lot of effort into it." Thanks to that effort, the teenager started to fill out her resume. There was a win at the 2018 Les Petits As international tournament in France for 12 to 14-year-olds. Success also started to come at the Grand Slams, including a junior singles title at the 2022 U.S. Open. Her biggest step into the mainstream, however, arrived in March this year at the Miami Open. Eala drew fifth-ranked Madison Keys in the third round and beat the defending Australian Open champ in two sets 6-4, 6-2. Her reward for that surprise win? Facing second-ranked Iga Świątek, who has won five majors and previously held the top spot in the world rankings, in a quarter-final. Again, Eala pulled off the upset, winning 6-2, 7-5. How did she handle those matches? While it's tempting to read into the rankings and make major adjustments to compensate for the star power across the net, the teenager trusted in herself. Alexandra Eala of the Philippines in action against Sorana Cirstea of Romania in the second round on Day Three of the Mutua Madrid Open at La Caja Magica on April 25, 2024 in Madrid, Spain... Alexandra Eala of the Philippines in action against Sorana Cirstea of Romania in the second round on Day Three of the Mutua Madrid Open at La Caja Magica on April 25, 2024 in Madrid, Spain More Robert Prange/Getty "It always has to be a balance," Eala said. "A balance of being demanding with yourself and being confident while also being humble and seeing other great players. And they can, you know, if you're down in the score or if they're making good winners, it's because they're good players too. "But, at the same time, you cannot think about all they've done; 'Oh, they're a four-time Grand Slam, five-time Grand Slam [winner]. Those are things that I don't think about when I go up against them, because in the end, you can play someone who's [ranked] 150 and they're good players too. "Tennis is an ever-changing game, ever-evolving game. And, you know, things can happen." One major thing that happened to Eala was making history. On the back of those two wins, she broke into the WTA Top 100 rankings. Beyond the personal milestone, she was also the first Filipino woman to cross that plateau. That reality isn't lost on Eala, who, despite her young age, is carrying her home country's flag on the global stage. "It's such a blessing to come from where I come from because I feel the Filipino community is like no other," she said. "We're so proud of our roots and our culture. You know, for me to be able to bring that out and to expose it tennis world and the international scene, this is such a blessing for me to be able to do that." Staying True to Oneself Another benefit of her ranking, which rose to 69 after Rome, is automatic qualification into the main draw of the French Open, also known as Roland-Garros, in May, which will place Eala squarely on the world stage. The tournament's iconic clay surface does pose a challenge—it is unique among Grand Slams—but Eala isn't looking to make any drastic changes, despite being knocked out early from the recent Italian Open, also played on a clay court. "There's always going to be a couple of tweaks, but not in terms of changing your whole game," the left-handed player said, speaking to Newsweek before her defeat in Rome. " important that I stay true to my identity as a player. And I feel that's when I'm most effective. "But yeah, I think being comfortable on clay is super important. And what's going to get you to that stage is the amount of hours that you spend on this surface, because in the end, most of the year is on hard [court]." Alexandra Eala of The Philippines with her parents Mike Eala, Rizza Maniego-Eala, brother Mlko Eala and supporters after her victory against Lucie Havlíckova of the Czech Republic in the Girls Singles Final during the US... Alexandra Eala of The Philippines with her parents Mike Eala, Rizza Maniego-Eala, brother Mlko Eala and supporters after her victory against Lucie Havlíckova of the Czech Republic in the Girls Singles Final during the US Open Tennis Championship 2022 at the USTA National Tennis Centre on September 10th 2022 in Flushing, Queens, New York City. More Tim Clayton/Corbis/Getty And while results, especially at Roland-Garros, do matter, there's a bigger picture beyond any one tournament. Ultimately, sports are cyclical; no one can stay atop the mountain forever. While that may seem cruel, it is also fair as everyone will get their shot and the best will rise to the top. That leaves Eala at a crossroads, where she's both claiming the spotlight for herself and laying the foundations for the young girls who will come after her. "The little girls are the best fans," she said. "I think the end, you see yourself in them because at one point in time you were a little girl with a racket, and you wanted to play on the big stages. And what I would want to tell them to try to be the next me, it's to try to be the first them. "And that's what I always try to tell myself growing up, because I used to look up a lot to [Maria] Sharapova, to Li Na, to Simona Halep. And you know, although they've done great things, I wanted to do my own things.... I wanted to do my own great things."
New York Times
30-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Tennis adopted electronic line calling on clay and created a ball-mark monster
'Can you make it make sense?' Alex Eala asked after her defeat to Iga Świątek at the Madrid Open in April. Eala, a 19-year-old emerging talent from the Philippines, was not talking about her three-set loss, but rather a ball mark on the tournament's red clay courts. Early in the match, Świątek hit a serve that the mark on the clay showed to be out, but no out call came: the electronic line calling (ELC) system determined it to be in. Advertisement 'I mean, the mark is the physical, it's the physical proof,' Eala said. The day after, Arthur Fils experienced an identical situation against Francisco Comesana. 'It's terrible,' the French men's No. 1 said in an interview after the match. 'It's been a few weeks that now we play with the automatic line judges on clay. I got one serve that was maybe two or three centimeters out and then you look at the video and it says it's taking a bit of the line. 'It's very hard, especially at this kind of moment in the match, you know that one point is very important and you get robbed like this.' Fils and Eala were describing an increasingly regular occurrence for tennis stars on clay courts: being told not to believe their eyes. For decades, tennis events played on clay have relied on human line judges calling the bounce of the ball and chair umpires coming down to inspect the marks they leave in the red dirt. At some events, ELC has been introduced, and it is disagreeing with what the players can see. Some have even taken photos of the ball mark they believe proves their case. In Madrid, No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev used his phone to take a photo of a trace after a shot he believed to be out from Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was ruled in. Women's world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka did the same thing a week earlier in Stuttgart, Germany, this time to document a shot she believed was in but had been ruled out. At that event, ELC was not installed, with Sabalenka disagreeing with a line judge's call. Both players received code violations for unsportsmanlike conduct. In Madrid, Zverev insisted in his post-match news conference that there was a 'defect in the system' at that moment. 'I will talk to the supervisors, I will talk to the ATP, because as I said, this is not normal. For a mistake to happen like this, yes, one or two millimeters I understand, but four, five centimeters is not normal.' With the bounce of a ball, tennis finds itself in a quandary that cuts to the heart of how people experience the world. When two different knowledge systems disagree with each other, which one should they believe? As of 2025, Hawk-Eye ELC will be used at three of the four Grand Slams and across all men's ATP Tour and combined ATP and WTA events, including the Madrid Open. The Australian Open replaced line judges with the system in 2021, as did the U.S. Open in 2022. Wimbledon will follow suit this year. The French Open has retained line judges, continuing to use ball marks left in the clay to determine whether shots are in or out. Advertisement Tennis balls leave marks on all surfaces, but they are practically invisible to the naked eye on hard and grass courts, although on grass, chalk can sometimes fly up if a ball lands on or close to a line. On clay, visible traces can create tension as two systems disagree with each other. ELC has a margin of error of a few millimeters but ball marks on clay can be illusory. It is a 'live' surface, affected by the amount of red brick dust in different parts of the court, weather conditions and the shot's trajectory. Tennis balls compress when they land, creating marks of all shapes and sizes that do not always tell an accurate story of the impact. Even systems billed as 100 percent accurate, like Foxtenn, which uses cameras to display the ball's bounce, can be affected. Before the introduction of ELC on clay, the ATP, with some consultancy from the WTA, paid for and commissioned an introductory video designed to explain these illusions to players and spectators. ATP players were sent the video, and the WTA shared it on its channels and briefed its players about some of the quirks of ELC on clay, but that hasn't stopped some of them from raging about perceived injustices. In Madrid, the ATP Tour's X account even responded to a post about the Zverev incident from Tennis TV, a media entity that the ATP Tour owns. The ATP said it was unaware of any defect; Hawk-Eye did not respond to a request for comment. Ball marks on clay can look different depending on surface conditions. It's one of the reasons we introduced ELC Live across the Tour. Learn more 👇 — ATP Tour (@atptour) April 28, 2025 In other scenarios, players have tried to let the ball marks speak for themselves. Two-time Grand Slam singles and mixed doubles champion Victoria Azarenka had a serve called long in a doubles match against Demi Schuurs and Asia Muhammad, but Schuurs and Muhammad referred to the ball mark and gave Azarenka a first serve. Advertisement This kind of sporting behavior is acclaimed across tennis, but it can have wider consequences. If ELC is determining whether a ball is in or out, then ball marks should not be used as part of any decision-making process. For players, that requires erasing years of deep-rooted etiquette, ignoring not just the evidence right in front of them but also the knowledge system that they have relied on to understand their sport. This discrepancy has played out much longer for spectators. A high watermark for the introduction of ELC was the 2004 U.S. Open final between Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati. Williams had numerous shots called out that Hawk-Eye showed as clearly in — but the technology was only available to television viewers and was not used in the match. From 2007 to 2025, Wimbledon employed a Hawk-Eye challenge system, which was also used at the U.S. Open and Australian Open before line judges were dropped. Players could object to calls they disagreed with, but were only permitted three incorrect challenges, so they could not review every close call. Viewers would therefore see replays of balls called one way, which were in fact the other. In a sport that already poses so many mental challenges, it was inevitable that players would sometimes become frazzled when told that they can't believe what their eyes are telling them — even if they have watched an educational video that explains how and why discrepancies might occur. In 2024, Zverev said umpires were to blame for his two Grand Slam final defeats in a general tirade during a match in Shanghai. During the decisive fifth set of that year's French Open final, a second serve from Carlos Alcaraz was called out by a line judge, but the chair umpire came down and overruled. The Hawk-Eye television replay ruled it out — but within the circa 3mm margin of error for the technology. Certainty can be an illusion, especially when the logic at the heart of players' arguments against ELC is that their eyes can track a small, yellow object moving at over 100mph better than a system designed to do only this. Taylor Fritz, the American world No. 4, said that there can be discrepancies in how well players can adjust based on their tennis background: 'For someone like me, who's not a clay-court player, stopping points and looking at marks mid-point, trying to see if it's in or out is so much tougher to do than someone who's played on clay forever,' he told reporters in Madrid. Advertisement 'So I really like the fact that we can just play until we hear the call. If we don't hear the calls, we know we're playing the point. There's no grey area, and so regardless of if it might miss a call or not I don't care, at least it's consistent.' Sabalenka, who queried a ball mark in Stuttgart, is in favor of ELC because it takes away the emotional element of an umpire not wanting to admit to a mistake. 'When it's a little mistake or not even a mistake even, I prefer to have the Hawk-Eye system than the referee, because, yeah, sometimes referees can be very weak (and would rather not) go there and confirm that they made a mistake,' she told reporters. Prominent players Madison Keys, Alex de Minaur and Elina Svitolina agreed that while there will be frustrations with ELC, they don't compare to the old dynamic of disagreeing with an umpire inspecting a mark. 'I always hated when they came out and their fingers would swirl around,' Keys said in an interview last week. 'This isn't going to go how I want it to.' Fils has the opposite view. 'We have to go back to the normal line judge and to believe in the umpire because now the umpire is not doing anything,' he told reporters in Madrid. Players have, in the past, railed just as much against umpires in their view using the wrong mark to make a decision. Denis Shapovalov, the Canadian world No. 30, recalled a French Open match five years ago against Roberto Carballes Baena, when an incorrect line call on a key point in the fifth set went against him and shifted the momentum of the match. Following the incident with Carballes Baena, Shapovalov appealed for 'Hawkeye (sic)' on clay in a post on X. 'It's easier to just let it go when it's a machine — obviously it's tougher when you see a mark but I still would leave it in the hands of a machine,' he told reporters in Madrid. Advertisement With the discrepancy between ball marks and ELC manifesting on individual shots — and a tiny minority of the total points played across an event — it is as easy to forget that players are being asked to completely recalibrate their understanding of their sport as it might be hard for them to erase ball marks from their minds, even if they know they can be illusory. Świątek, who said after beating Eala that 'there's no point' for players to say whether they prefer ELC or umpires inspecting marks, appears to have found her version of acceptance. 'You prefer to play with umpires, but you go on court and have electronic line calling?' she said in a news conference. 'There is no time to have your mindset in that way, so I'm just going to accept whatever there is.'
