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Why Alex Eala Is a Crowd Favorite—The Makings of a Tennis Superstar

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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 960px; display: block;" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788629281119why alex eala is a crowd favorite - the makimngs of a tennis superstar.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"><span class="fr-inner">Photo from @alex.eala</span></span></span></div><div><br></div><p>A &lsquo;<em>bardo</em>&rsquo; is typically a Tibetan-Buddhist metaphysical concept denoting a transitional state. In Buddhism, it&rsquo;s the period between one life ending and the next one beginning&mdash;the liminal state between death and rebirth.&nbsp;</p><p>In the <strong>Alex Eala</strong> context, I&rsquo;m using it to describe the present day, that period in between Alex the budding Filipina tennis star and emerging phenom of Women&rsquo;s Tennis on one hand; and what we foresee possibly happening in the near future&mdash;that of Alex Eala the sports superstar, and a global brand unto herself.</p><div><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 960px; display: block;" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788629423682717357531_1547738240073007_1973983491113175326_n.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"><span class="fr-inner">Photo from @lta</span></span></span></div><div><br></div><p>It&rsquo;s what the likes of Michael Jordan, David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, LeBron James, and Lewis Hamilton have achieved. They have transcended the sport they engage in and become household names that millions recognize&mdash;or at the very least are aware of, even when they don&rsquo;t follow that celebrity&rsquo;s sport.&nbsp;</p><p>And trust me, a lot of people aren&rsquo;t happy that this may be happening to our Alex; as it is fair to objectively say that she hasn&rsquo;t accomplished anything in her sport to earn &lsquo;legend&rsquo; status, like the names that started this paragraph. But let&rsquo;s go back to that later. Competing in the<strong>&nbsp;US Open&nbsp;</strong>and bowing out in the Third Round in a nail-biting three-setter to bestie<strong>&nbsp;Iva Jovic,</strong> several controversies have been hounding Alex of late; and the supreme irony is that none are of her own making, or something she chose to happen. She&rsquo;s merely in the center of them&mdash;and thus, the easy target.</p><div><br></div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788629749309793351207_18336704230261184_363124853317581203_n.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 960px; display: block;" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788629763208782074321_18335855428261184_8512749389285629440_n.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"><span class="fr-inner">Alex Eala at the US Open | Photos from @alex.eala</span></span></span></div><div><br></div><p>First, there was the pair of personalized kicks that <strong>Nike</strong> gifted Alex with after capturing her first <strong>WTA Tour</strong> title at the WTA 500 Mubadala DC Open. She wore this customized pair when she stepped onto Arthur Ashe Stadium for an exhibition match at the US Open with friend Iva Jovic, and they were joined on the court by their respective fathers. Nike first gifted her with such a pair when she won the 2022 Juniors US Open.</p><p>Haters sprang up on social media, scoffing at how so much fuss was being made for a &lsquo;pedestrian&rsquo; WTA 500 event&mdash;not a Grand Slam win, or at the very least, a WTA 1000 tour stop. But all I could think was it&rsquo;s a gift from Nike, and they&rsquo;re being smart by creating a buzz that connects Alex with Nike, as a whole bunch of Alex Eala-related merch was being launched globally during the US Open. It was smart marketing, a lot of earned media mileage, and would potentially help kickstart the sales of the Eala SKUs.</p><p>To Nike&rsquo;s credit, the timing was perfect, with the DC Open happening a few weeks before the US Open would commence. Rightly, Nike had not made a big deal of Alex&rsquo;s Guadalajara and Birmingham wins, as those were WTA 125 events, more like a Challenger Circuit tournament, minor, and not even recognized as WTA Tour wins. Our own Philippine Women&rsquo;s Open, held in January, is similarly a WTA 125 event.</p><div style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width: 960px; display: block;" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788630809684787638706_18335855404261184_7128876597370550420_n.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"><span class="fr-inner">Photo from @alex.eala</span></span></span></div><div>&nbsp;</div><p>Second was the controversy over how all her US Open matches are at the marquee courts&mdash;the Louis Armstrong and Arthur Ashe Stadiums&mdash;while current Grand Slam holders are shuttled off to the smaller, outside courts. And of course, when it was brought up during her interview, Alex rightly said she has no control over which court she&rsquo;s assigned to; all she knows is that she has to be ready no matter where she&rsquo;s made to play.</p><p>Again, this is the organizers of the Open appreciating that the matches featuring Alex are potential paydays for them. A lot has already been said about how expensive the ticket prices for this 2026 edition are. Day One ground passes hit $363 on resale, more than eight times what the equivalent Wimbledon tickets would cost. Madison Keys and even Coco Gauff played their First Round matches on Arthur Ashe to sparse audiences. Contrast that with the full house of Alex in all her matches.</p><div><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788631241838770641205_18333347755261184_7095278594710911633_n.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"></div><div><br></div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788631253556719672978_18324603523261184_4972821199726302353_n.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"></div><div>&nbsp;</div><p>Her days of practice before the Open officially began, her exhibition matches, and her Doubles matches drew big crowds of Filipino flag-waving fans. The <em><strong>New York Times</strong></em> even ran a front-page story about how the Filipino-American community in Queens is all dialed in to support Alex.&nbsp;</p><p>So, let&rsquo;s face it: she is the organizers&rsquo; dream problem. Wherever there&rsquo;s a strong representation of the Filipino diaspora, you&rsquo;ll find avid fans ready to save up and make their presence felt to Alex. They&rsquo;ll patiently line up for hours, just to get a glimpse of their newfound idol, elicit a smile or wave, have something signed by her, or even get that golden selfie. So why wouldn&rsquo;t any sensible tournament organizing committee recognize that, and make that work for them?</p><p>The closest to the Eala phenomenon that we&rsquo;re witnessing now would be Sania Mirza from India. Considered a trailblazer (much like Alex), Sania peaked at a WTA world ranking of #27 in Singles in 2007. A severe wrist injury forced her to shift to Doubles, where she picked up 43 titles in Women&rsquo;s Doubles and Mixed Doubles, 6 of which are Grand Slam titles. From the Asian and Commonwealth Games, she has a haul of 14 medals for her country. She retired in 2023; after being chosen as one of the 50 Heroes of Asia by <em>TIME</em> in 2005, and appointed UN Women&rsquo;s Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia during the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in 2013.</p><div><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F1525911246243431%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><p>In her day, crowds of Indian fans would watch and cheer Sania on, no matter where in the world she was playing. She ignited a whole people, who saw her as one of the most influential Indians of her time. It&rsquo;s a career path I can see Alex Eala taking as she evolves into much more than a sports figure and eventually uses tennis as a springboard to do bigger things. Her Doubles play with Venus Williams already has Alex commenting on the history of Women&rsquo;s Tennis and the important role the Williams sisters played in advancing prize money parity, building on what pioneers such as Billie Jean King started.</p><p>And if you need a gauge of just how popular Alex is today, just cast a gaze on all the fake news and AI-generated content being produced in her name, and how it&rsquo;s fooling so many people that you&rsquo;d think would know better. They share the content - thereby validating the social media pages of these fake news peddlers. One recent one that had me upset was that of Leylah Fernandez, talking for 14 minutes about why Alex Eala is so special.&nbsp;</p><p>First they spelled Leylah wrong; then, regardless of how nice what she said was, how astute her analysis, do you really think any professional tennis player would talk for 14 minutes about another player in a post-match interview? Even when people would point out that it was merely IG, the ones sharing wouldn&rsquo;t take it down, which I thought was a sad reflection of our attitude towards truth and authenticity&mdash;as long as it&rsquo;s what we wanted to hear, even if it&rsquo;s fake, we&rsquo;re ready to abide by it? But that&rsquo;s another issue I&rsquo;d be ready to discuss on another day.</p><div><br></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1788737156799789013097_18335855449261184_1900921910078678690_n.jpg" style="width: 960px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe width="925" height="525" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T6prqgqJHzg?si=GRcnbwe5LXvZ-abp" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div><p>Will Alex achieve Superstar status, and generate a deep number of fans who aren&rsquo;t Filipino? Spurred by the fanatical support we&rsquo;ve thrown behind her, there&rsquo;s a healthy curiosity for now, and these non-Filipino &lsquo;fans&rsquo; like what they see, as Alex is genuinely nice, smart, and extremely media savvy. So yes, she definitely has the potential to go beyond having Filipinos rooting for her. But I&rsquo;ll also put it out there that significant wins have to pile up very soon.</p><p>I have more than forty-five years of following Tennis. I&rsquo;d admire Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors, root for John McEnroe. In this century, it was Roger Federer, and Rafa Nadal. And of course, it didn&rsquo;t matter that they weren&rsquo;t Filipino. But they won, and they won consistently, as you do want to root for someone who&rsquo;s still standing in the second week of the Slams, the one who&rsquo;s raising the trophy.&nbsp;</p><p>Recalling the likes of Michael Chang, Yannick Noah, Michael Stich, Juan Martin Del Potro, Dominic Thiem; they all picked up one Slam title in their careers. For those who follow tennis, there&rsquo;s much to say about those wins, and how they had game. But are they global superstars with names that many in the world recognize, or even connect to Tennis? I don&rsquo;t think so. So that is what Alex Eala is facing if she wants to break through, and become the global superstar we&rsquo;re all hoping she becomes.&nbsp;</p><div><br></div><p style="text-align: left;">Photos from&nbsp;<strong>@alex.eala</strong></p>

<p>Alex Eala is somewhere between being the budding Filipina tennis star and emerging phenom of Women’s Tennis, on one hand, and what we foresee happening in the near future: Alex becoming a sports superstar and a global brand unto herself.</p>

Alex Eala is somewhere between being the budding Filipina tennis star and emerging phenom of Women’s Tennis, on one hand, and what we foresee happening in the near future: Alex becoming a sports superstar and a global brand unto herself.

Why Alex Eala Is a Crowd Favorite—The Makings of a Tennis Superstar

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Why Alex Eala Is a Crowd Favorite—The Makings of a Tennis Superstar

Philip Cu-Unjieng

Published September 08, 2026 10:55 PM PHT

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