President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is a relatively young president so I won’t criticize him for gushing over Filipino tennis star Alexandra Maniego Eala’s current exploits at the Wimbledon grass courts in England. The President apparently saw a set of the coverage of Eala’s game against former world number one Iga Swiatek of Poland. Eala won to advance to the next round against Jasmin Paolini of Italy. The hope is that Eala will reach the finals and finally win a grand slam tournament in the Women’s Tennis Association or WTA. Eala is the first Filipino tennis star to be seeded and reach the third round of a prestigious tournament in the world.
I am a basketball and boxing fanatic although I have long followed tennis tournaments abroad, like Wimbledon. I idolized some of that sports discipline’s stars, men or women. Tennis has always been ruled by Europeans so seeing a Pinay in the WTA is refreshing. Eala, who trained at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, is brown-skinned and speaks fluent Tagalog, as well as English and even Spanish. Her English accent is very Pinay.
I used to idolize Manny Pacquiao and watched many television coverages of his championship fights. Those fights were well promoted and held once in several months. Tennis tournaments are different. These are held in some countries around the world and in stepladder format. To reach the finals, players go through elimination rounds. Imagine the money and effort spent by Pinoys who idolize Eala abroad,
I could just imagine overseas Filipino workers scheduling chat-alongs or personally spending for trips to tournaments Eala participates in. The Filipino version of the diaspora has ensured that wherever Eala is, the Pinoy crowd will be there. Thus, Eala has become the toast of the tennis world recently. And the Filipino audience has changed how tennis is being watched. In a way, Eala’s breakthrough is doing wonders for tennis not only in the Philippines but also in the world.
In the Philippines, Eala’s exploits are covering up the very sad state of our politics. No wonder BBM gushed over her Wimbledon victories. We are in need of positives to contrast with the negatives. One social media creator even posted the photo of Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa slipping in a Senate stair while evading elements of the National Bureau of Investigation side-by-side with Eala crouching low for a return against Swiatek.
Sports is among the disciplines that have lessened the pain we have to endure with the way our country is being run. That is why Eala is now the darling of the more than 100 million Filipinos in the Philippines and those spread around the world. Not only is Alex changing the way we see tennis now but she is also making the world notice the Filipino.
As Eala puts it, we always have this sense of community. Whoever among us makes it big or makes waves abroad, we always feel a vicarious pride. There may be crabs here and there but they are few and far between. So I am with the many who are shouting: “laban Alex.”