SINCE I last wrote about Alex Eala, how she charmed both fans and opponents alike at a Hong Kong tournament, her on-court hustle and two-fisted fight contrasting with her sweet nature off the battlefield, so many things have happened in the young woman's life.
She reached the last 16 of the ASB Classic in Auckland, made her debut at the Australian Open in Melbourne and realized her dream of bringing WTA tennis - the way modern, high-octane tennis is played - to the country.
All of that in just a month's time!
READ 'Warrior princess' Eala winning matches as well as new fans
Wednesday night's dramatic comeback win in the second round of the Abu Dhabi Open may be an extreme example but it's typical Alex. Always at her fighting best, going for her shots even when the chips are down, never stopping trying to figure out what could work when nothing seems to be going her way.
From one set down and, later, 0-4 down in the third-set decider against the seemingly impenetrable Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Alex drew on deep reserves perhaps even she never knew she had, to grind down her Belarusian opponent and prevail in a tiebreak 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
Puso? Check. Never say die? Check. Alex definitely is all that.
At a time when the country is drowning in government scandals, not least the flood control project anomalies that exposed the greed of many and the incompetence of others, Alex is probably the best thing that happened to the country, the hero we never knew we needed, a ray of light amid the darkness threatening to envelop us.
And now as the world is starting to recognize Alex and her talent, so too is the tennis establishment getting to know a new and previously untapped army of Filipino fans worldwide - loud, passionate, expressive like none they have seen before. Where have they all come from, where have they been all these years, they must now be asking.
All it took was Alex to unlock such wave of emotions from her people.
A fiesta-like atmosphere now characterizes her appearances in tournaments abroad. Overseas Filipino workers, along with their families and children, turn up in stadiums in droves to watch her matches. And for those who can't afford the price of a ticket, they patiently wait outside the tennis complex long after the end of the match to greet their hero.
Warrior princess Alex is also Ambassador-at-large Eala.
Having lived nearly half my life away from the country, I can relate to the outpouring of support from Filipinos overseas, how Alex's success and high profile gives Pinoys something to be happy and proud about amid their struggles in the workplace and homesickness, how people bask in the warm glow of her reflected glory.
This is not to say that Alex is a finished product. Not by any means, and she herself is the first to admit that. And so she continues to work on her game to try to add to the tools at her disposal against the game's big hitters. How far that could take her remains to be seen.
Things, mostly good, are happening to Alex at a rapid pace.
But she knows the realities of a professional athlete's life. Slumps, injuries, the dips in the rankings, losses - all these are part of the life she has chosen to embrace, without fear, without a moment's hesitation.
The beauty of Alex Eala's story is not about the wins.
It is about a young woman's journey and her dream, the ups and downs of a professional athlete's life, her struggles and sacrifices to reach her full potential against a world dominated by the Sabalenkas, Swiateks, Rybakinas, Gauffs.
And guess what? She has graciously let us, the whole country, join her for the ride of a lifetime.
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