ALL Alex Eala wants for Christmas is Philippine tennis' renaissance.
The 18-year-old Filipina ace reflected on a productive year highlighted by a double bronze haul in her Asian Games debut in singles and mixed doubles competition, and looked ahead to a progressive year ahead.
“My Christmas wish for Philippine sports… I think specifically for tennis now, the future is bright for the next generation of players,” said Eala, the highest-ranked Filipino tennis player ever and the first win a juniors grand slam title at the US Open.
READ: Alex Eala hopes tennis will also enjoy volleyball's popularity
“Hopefully, there are two other Filipino doubles players in men’s that have been doing well. Sila ‘yung teammates ko sa Asian Games (Francis Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales) so maybe eventually, makakasali rin sila sa Grand Slams,” she added.
Back in Manila for an offseason vacation with coach Daniel Gomez da Costa of the Rafa Nadal Academy, Eala recalled how she was taken aback by the Filipino fans’ immense love and support for her even from afar.
This, she hopes, will equate to a stronger following not only for her but also for rising Filipino tennis stars at a time when Philippine tennis has lost the glitter it has enjoyed up until the nineties.
“With that, I think that the spirit of the sport of tennis will be reignited. I think that more and more people will start to get into the sport. Actually, a lot of people have come to me these past few weeks telling me that they started tennis or their kids have started tennis because of me,” Eala said.
Eala added: “Those are comments that I really appreciate and really warm my heart because you’re not thinking about that when you’re on-court, but it’s nice to see that people also appreciate and there’s an impact that you give to the crowd.”
Eala hopes to see her beloved sport flourish to new highs in the country.
“Hopefully, my Christmas wish for tennis specifically is that more and more people will get into the sport and more and more people will follow the other tennis players,” said Eala.
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