BASED on the International Tennis Federation's official rankings, Alex Eala is easily one of the top female juniors player in Asia.
The Filipina ace is still at No. 3 in the World Girls' rankings, with two Grand Slam titles under her belt — all of which she achieved in a span of two years.
Eala claimed her first right before the global pandemic, in the 2020 Australian Open Girls' Doubles with Indonesian partner Priska Madelyn Nugroho. Then, barely a year later, she conquered the 2021 French Open Girls Doubles' with Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia to bag her second Grand Slam.
Of course, she's looking to achieve more.
In less than two weeks, Eala is to make her debut in the 2021 Wimbledon, joining both singles and doubles play.
But more than anything else, one of her greatest feats in the past two years is the mastery of the emotional turmoil that's sometimes hounded her since the early days of her career.
In a 2019 interview, her dad Mike bared that as a kid, stress from losses could possibly take its toll on Alex.
Now, he's more confident of how she handles the extremes of her young career.
"Alex has matured a lot over the past year. She's already at the point where she could take losses as much as she takes wins," he said.
Tennis can be quite unpredictable. Not even a week after her historic French Open victory, Eala faced both early singles and doubles exits in a pro tourney in Madrid.
"It's just something that tennis players have to learn over the years. I'm still learning. You cannot dwell on wins like you cannot dwell on losses, you have to move on and focus on the next tournament coming up," Alex said.
To steel herself in her career rollercoaster, the young teen has adopted a high-spirited mindset.
"Setbacks are part of the process in order for you to enjoy the moments meant to be enjoyed," she continued. "I just really don't focus on results right now, I'm trying to improve and results will follow."
In less than a year joining the WTA pro tours, she bagged her maiden Womens' Singles title last January in the first leg of W15 Manacor in Spain.
To date, Alex has competed in over ten professional competitions, after a grant from ITF's Junior Exempt Program where the top juniors players are given a limited chance to join the seniors.
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