FOR a long while, it wasn’t the matches or the chase for ranking points that was the hardest. It was everything in between.
For Alex Eala, that meant growing into a life that didn’t quite follow the usual path.
At 12, she left Manila, Philippines to train at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain, stepping into a routine built almost entirely around tennis.
READ How half-basketball, half-tennis court shaped Alex Eala’s aggressive style
It was a decision she chose early, one that meant trading the familiar rhythms of teenage life for something far more structured, far more demanding.
“The way our lives are built, it’s definitely not normal,” Eala said in the Player's Box Podcast hosted by Des Krawczyk, Jess Pegula, Madison Keys, and Jenny Brady. “You don’t have that space to grow your social life through routine, building that web of connection.”
It’s a reality that follows players from city to city. Friends don’t travel the same way. Schedules don’t align. The usual ways people form relationships simply don’t exist, an evident sacrifice from one's formative years.
“I really did enjoy academy life,” she added, “but the social life part was not completely the highlight of that time. It’s something I still have to work on.”
So she adjusted.
“The more you’re on tour, it gave me more confidence to approach girls,” Eala said. “Because the friends aren’t gonna come at you.”
And while she was figuring that part out quietly, something else began to change, louder and harder to ignore. The fame, the crowd, the pressure from bringing in a whole new demographic to the sport long gatekept.
“I went home to Manila, the Middle East, super full of Filipinos, and it just gradually started to sink in, that I was sort of a famous personality," she shared.
It didn’t happen all at once. It built slowly, from smaller courts to main stages, from scattered cheers to something more solid.
“Most support I got is from —New York, Melbourne, at home, and Dubai,” she said. “The Middle East in general has a huge population of Filipinos.”
Middle East nirvana
For many players, the Middle East stops can feel like the loneliest. Not so for Eala.
“It was the opposite from my end,” she added. “That’s where I have the most crowd, but for a lot of players that’s where they have the least.”
The moment it became real came outside the matches. Eala bared an instance where she came unguarded to one of the practice courts and the crowd just started pouring towards her, leaving her feeling stranded.
“That’s when I knew things have changed,” she said. “When they were waiting for my practices. That time I shouted, 'Wait!' then they did step aside."
And ironically, not everything has shifted with it, which makes the change a little difficult to pinpoint.
“The day to day is still similar,” Eala said. “Training, life is all about tennis, but with the added exposure.”
Some habits, of course Filipino-influenced, have stayed exactly the same.
“Most Filipino thing I do, I pray when I get nervous,” she said. “I used to do it a lot when I was younger.”
And then, almost as a second thought:
“Applying my sunscreen,” she added. “Religiously putting my sunscreen.”
And as she goes by on tour, now starting her clay season by the second week of April, one of her bucketlists is to meet the Filipino legend, and an idol she grew up watching: Manny Pacquiao.
"I haven't met him, he's a Filipino icon. He's really huge, and his fights would be like a holiday back home," she said.
Between the quiet routines and the growing noise, Eala is still finding her balance, learning how to exist in both worlds, all at once.
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