Meet Alex Eala - The tennis trailblazer being praised by Rafa Nadal and Manny Pacquiao

When Alex Eala won the US Open girls championship tennis title in September 2022, without dropping a single set in the entire tournament, it was a 'remember the name' moment.

In New York she became the first Filipino to win a tennis Grand Slam of any kind, and the reaction back home was wild.

"Surreal," is the word Eala uses, "I think that it brought a lot of joy to the Philippines, which I'm super thankful for, and I'm super blessed to have such a community to rally behind me.

"I really wish that I could have gone home to see everything," the trailblazer tells Olympics.com via videocall from California.

Among the many congratulations were names like boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino president Bongbong Marcos, and Rafa Nadal.

Eala moved to the Rafa Nadal Academy (RNA) at 13 years of age. Since joining the RNA she's racked up junior doubles Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open in 2020 and the French Open in 2021, had three podium finishes at the SEA (Southeast Asian) Games in Vietnam 2022, and become the highest ranking Filipina of all time on the pro circuit.

Oh, and did we mention that she achieved all of this before her 18th birthday?

Alex Eala's 'distant' goals: "Be number one, win Grand Slams and the Olympics"

Eala's prodigious talent has an entire nation excited about the future. She's part of the Philippines' next-gen barrier-breakers like basketball star Kai Sotto, golf genius Yuka Saso, world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo, pole-vaulter EJ Obiena, and many more.

It's a new generation inspired and energised by watching Hidilyn Diaz win the nation's first ever Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020 in 2021.

Did Alex Eala see it?

"There's not a single person in the whole country that didn't see that," she laughs, "it was a great moment because she's also a woman, you know.

"That sets it apart because, of course, we have Manny Pacquiao, we have EJ Obiena, Carlos Yulo, but we also have good women athletes in the Philippines that deserve a lot of attention as well."

Eala is an emerging talent getting a lot of attention, and an Olympic podium is high on her list of long-term goals:

"To be number one, win some Grand Slams, but of course, also to like win the Olympics is a huge thing. After Hidilyn's win, you know, it's very inspiring to so many athletes and to so many Filipinos.

"The Olympics is a very unique experience. It's different than all the other tennis tournaments that you get. I don't know how to explain it, I think that it's more for your country than for yourself.

"So it's unique."

The rising star, born in 2005 in Quezon City, calls these "distant" goals right now, but if her junior career is anything to go by, then the senior WTA tour better watch out.

Alex Eala: "I like to take it step by step"

At the same time, the Filipina phenom is staying grounded.

"I like to take it step by step," she says.

"Right now I'm just focussing on improving my ranking and, you know, hopefully I'm trying to get into the qualies [qualifying rounds] of the women's Grand Slams. I have to work a lot to make that happen but obviously, that's what I'm here to do."

Her first steps towards those goals were taken at the age of four with her 'lolo' - Tagalog for grandfather - and her brother Miko, who's three years older.

Lolo is one of the most important people in her story.

"He's a huge part of my life," Alex continues, attributing her "discipline, respect, and an open mind," to him.

_"_I spent so much time with him that he already knows what I'm thinking."

Little gems like kissing her racquet to make her hold it higher, and memories like the time she and her brother Miko tried to hit grandad with the ball on a drill, are things she remembers fondly.

The 'hit lolo with the ball' game didn't turn out too well though:

"That went south very quickly, so we learnt not to do it again," she says laughing.

Alex Eala family: "The most important thing in the world"

"I think family is the most important thing in the world," says Eala, "that's my top priority over my career, over everything else, over my friends, you know, because there's nothing like family.

"They're always going to be there and I'm so lucky to have one that supports my future and my career in tennis, so they mean a lot to me.

Some of her competitive DNA definitely comes from her mother Rizza Maniego-Eala, who won a women’s swimming 100m backstroke bronze medal at the 1985 Southeast Asian Games.

Growing up, Alex watched Maria Sharapova and Li Na, admiring Sharapova's power and calm on the tennis court.

Alex's brother Miko Eala also still plays the sport, currently in the North American collegiate NCAA competition with Pennsylvania State University.

And the strong sporting connection doesn't stop at the immediate family either:

Uncle Noli Eala is the chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and former commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Ask Alex what her favourite moments on her journey are, and it always comes back to family:

"Oh, I think, you know, when I'm driving with my coach and my dad, they're always making jokes, so it's super funny, it's just little moments, little things."

Even one of her favourite moment's from the junior US Open win is all about sharing it with family:

"There's a comedian named Jo Koy and me and my dad and my uncle we're such huge fans. He greeted me on Instagram and we were all freaking out! It was so funny."

Alex Eala at the Rafa Nadal Academy

"Tennis has always been such a huge part of my life, and that's all I could ever see myself doing," Eala told us.

Years training with lolo made it clear that she had a special talent and the drive to make a career happen.

At seven she was training two to four hours a day, and by 12 a big break came.

"It's crazy. So in 2018, January, I won this tournament in France, like an under-14 championships, and I won it when I was 12.

"So the academy reached out to my parents and before you know, September that year, I was in the dorms there and it came as a huge surprise to me.

"I never thought I'd move out at 13, but yeah, my brother came along with me and I think that was a huge help."

It's no coincidence either that Eala and family are big fans of Nadal - a 22-time grand-slam winner and two-time Olympic champion, with much of the way his academy is set up based on his personal experience.

"His focus and his mental composure," are two things Eala admires about Rafa, "how he's able to fight so much during the tough points but able to keep his cool when he's down and stay motivated during the matches."

She's had the chance to speak to the Spanish megastar and he's been a mentor too.

What Rafa Nadal said to Alex Eala

"He's really nice," Eala confirms about Rafa Nadal.

"It's kind of intimidating at first when you talk to him because he's such a huge deal, but he'll say hi every once in a while, even when he's training, so after a while it doesn't get so scary anymore!"

Nadal has given the rising star some advice too.

"He told me that it's good that I surround myself with some good people."

When Eala won her first pro title at 15 years of age - an ITF World Tour 15k event in Spain, Rafa came to congratulate her.

"I told him, I'm sure a 15,000 that I won wasn't as big as his achievements and he said that, you know, once upon a time a 15k was everything to him as well.

"So you can see that he really came from humble beginnings and he started from the bottom and he really worked his way up."

Anyone who knows anything about Nadal's rise is aware what an important figure his uncle Tony Nadal was to him, and Uncle Tony now coaches at the Academy.

"Yeah, he's on the court a lot," says Eala.

"He loves the work, you can tell. He really loves to coach. And he's very intense when he coaches, of course, he's someone with so much knowledge and so much experience on the tour so I've learned a lot from him."

Eala's rise like Venus and Serena Williams?

"A huge step was when I moved to Spain to train in the academy," Eala asserts.

"I think that was a huge opportunity for me and it only grew my ambitions and it grew my confidence as well."

Eala says the Academy brought exposure to a different level of tennis and while she has always had the support of her family, moving to a new country has given her a maturity and self-sufficiency beyond her years.

Her technique and fitness are on another level now and she has a coaching team from the RNA that she fully trusts.

There's no doubt that this is a family project, perhaps similar to Richard Williams' plan for his daughters Venus and Serena.

Did Alex's dad Mike Eala read Richard Williams' famous plan, immortalised by Will Smith in the film 'King Richard?'

"No, I never did," says dad to Olympics.com from California, "I never read the plan. But of course, seeing what's happening on the tour, you see a lot of presence of family members with the top players and I guess through the journey it takes a village to make the champion."

Again, it was a family decision, but this isn't a story of pushy parents, rather a talented and determined young athlete who found her thing early and is now taking it all the way to the top.

It's clear from speaking with Alex Eala that she's the driving force behind it all.

"When I started to think of what I wanted to be when I grew older, you know, tennis is all I found myself doing in the future, because I've spent so much time on the court, so much effort, ever since I was I was four.

"I didn't want that to go to waste and of course, I love the sport so much."

The reaction to Alex's US Open junior title win back home win blew the family away.

"It's crazy," continues Mike, "we never expected that kind of impact in the country. I mean, it was everywhere. Someone sent me a photo of all the major dailies having Alex's photo in the front page and wow, is this really happening?

"We're so far from the Philippines that you don't realise how much of an impact it had on the public, which is truly humbling and amazing.

"I mean, having access this platform to inspire so many people... And the more amazing thing is that, you know, that it's just the beginning, and there's still a lot of hard work up ahead, right, Alex?"

Right on cue, Alex smiles and nods, leaving you with no doubt that this family is a team in lock-step.

Alex Eala: "I'm super proud to be Filipino"

Despite leaving home at 13 to follow her tennis dream in Spain, make no mistake, Eala is a proud Filipina.

"I was born and raised there," she says, "but growing up, there wasn't a lot of Filipino representation in sports, except, I mean, Manny Pacquiao.

"But in other international sports, I didn't see enough representation. So that's what's important to me, is that now that I'm getting a little bit better, that they know where I come from.

"I'm super proud to be Filipino and I'm super proud of our culture and I do want to inspire younger girls and younger Filipinos in general to just pursue their dreams, it doesn't have to be tennis, doesn't have to be sports, but just to serve as a small inspiration."

And that isn't just words. Eala represented her nation at the Vietnam SEA (Southeast Asian) Games in May 2022 and played in the singles, doubles, and team tennis events, making the podium in all three.

Three bronze medals that promise so much for the future.

Alex Eala and Alyssa Valdez

At the SEA Games in Hanoi, Eala met another inspiring Filipina sports star: Volleyball big hitter Alyssa Valdez.

"I met her in the airport flying through Vietnam and she's very nice, you can see why people love her because she's super humble and happy and easy-going," says Eala.

So could there be a tennis-volleyball skill swap between the two?

"Yeah, definitely," Alex enthuses, "I haven't had the time to go home in a long while but when I go back to Manila then maybe...

"But I wouldn't want her to see my volleyball skills (Laughs), any other sport that's not tennis don't ask me to do!"

In basketball-crazy Philippines, Eala was always put on the volleyball and basketball teams when she was younger but readily admits "I was just there, I was just tall."

It's always been tennis for her.

Alex Eala at the Paris 2024 Olympics?

Tennis could take her all the way to the Paris 2024 Games as another Filipino medal hope, so what's her goal?

"To win! To win!" She says. "I mean, just to get a podium. But to win!"

"But oh, it's work. It's a long, long road, it's not easy to just get in the Olympics, you know, so I'm working on it. And if not Paris then the next Olympics, another four years to work on it again."

So how can Eala qualify for Paris?

It'll likely come down to the WTA (women's tour) rankings of 10 June 2024 - right after the French Open - which usually determine most of players who qualify.

Another path could be by winning the Asian Games which are set for September/October 2023.

But as her nation's highest-ranking player now in the world's top 300 (281 at the time of writing) there's a good chance we'll see Eala in Paris, one of the 64 women going for gold.

For Alex and her team that's a future goal, but right now she's fully focussed on the present.

At the end of her tour in the United States it's back to Europe to play more tournaments and in December a return to Manacor to get in a solid pre-season at the Rafa Nadal Academy before Grand Slam season starts again in January with the Australian Open.

Already an inspiration to an entire nation at 17, there's so much more to come from Alex Eala.

Most searched questions about Alex Eala

With Eala's star on the rise, internet search engines have been bombarded with questions about the Filipina hitter, so what do people want to know?

Here are the top five:

Is Alex Eala related to Noli Eala?

Yes, Noli Eala is Alex's uncle, he is the current chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and former commissioner of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

How old is Alex Eala?

Alex Eala was born on May 23, 2005, making her 17-years-old right now.

How tall is Alex Eala?

Alex Eala is 1.79m tall, or 5'9.

Who is the father of Alex Eala?

Alex Eala's father is Michael, or Mike Eala.