YOU must have noticed of my consistent reportage on the exploits of Alex Eala on the global tennis stage.
Just right, I must say.
It’s not every day that we see an international star in the making — although many insist she has become a full-fledged rock star already.
She has yet to win one of the sport’s four majors and here she is, already reaping a veneration accorded only to the likes of established superstars.
Everywhere she goes, Alex Eala draws undivided attention.
In malls, she has become as visible as Taylor Swift. Shrieking fans beg her for autograph. Selfies here and there. Hugs galore.
In tournaments, she attracts not only her Filipino kababayans but many others who know an icon when they see one.
Her Filipino fans have become her most lethal weapon as they do not only clap at her winners like passing shots, drop shots and cross court volleys, but also cheer — lustily at that — tirelessly as though every single shot had already won the match.
The good thing is, Eala warmly acknowledges the adulation and, in so many words, has expressed her gratitude in no small measure whenever she is interviewed after a win.
We haven’t roared this passionately and unabashedly since the glory days of Manny Pacquiao.
Alex Eala has become our new toast, the one blazing comet in a nation that continues to be mired in division, political upheavals and in misery as our poor folk suffer from utter neglect while the rich and our so-called leaders wallow in filthy luxury.
I write this while awaiting the resumption of the rain-interrupted championship yesterday between Eala and American Jessica Pegula for the Mubadala DC Open in Washington, USA.
The tyranny of deadline has butted in again so that I couldn’t wait for the outcome of the match, forcing me to finish this in time for printing.
But if Eala won, hurrah! It would be her first WTA 500 crown to add to her two lower WTA triumphs in Mexico in 2025 and in Birmingham in England early this year.
Pegula won yesterday’s first set 6-4, but Eala was 2-1 up in the second set when rains suspended play.
Even if Eala loses the championship — which I doubt that — she will still be our big winner.
She reached the final after beating China’s Qinwen Zheng, Fil-Canadian defending champion Leylah Fernandez, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina and Japan’s four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka — all wins coming in straight sets.
If that’s not a big deal, what is?
