AT just 21 years old, Alex Eala already talks like someone who has spent decades navigating her sport.
In a sense, she's 'old' in tennis after picking up the game at the age of four, then growing up under immense expectations while competing against the world’s best, and later moving from Manila to Spain at 13 to pursue her dream.
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Whatever the reason, Eala has learned early that surviving on tour is not always about talent alone. Oftentimes, it is simply about figuring things out with the help of family and friends until the difficult moments become the new normal.
“Talking to the team and parents and friends,” Eala shared when asked how she processes tough days.
Despite still in the early stages of her professional career, the Filipina admitted she already feels a seasoned pro, from all the experience she has had.
“I’m very early in my career but I’ve experienced a lot of things, those [rattling] moments,” she said during media day at Roland Garros. “I started tennis when I was 4, and for me and a lot of people here on tour, you just do it again and again, and you just figure out a way to get that out of the way.”
For Eala, that mental toughness is difficult to define because it is something built through repetition.
“And it’s not something you can explain or teach. It’s just something that we have and that’s why we’re here,” she said, sending a strong statement ahead of her second main draw appearance in the clay Grand Slam.
That maturity also shows in the way Eala learns from the game’s biggest stars.
Graduating from the guidance of the King of Clay in Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca and having faced the Queen of Clay Iga Swiatek thrice in her career, Eala looks at which parts of their games she can pick up and realistically fit in her own identity as a player.
“So many things that you can take away from Rafa, Iga, you have to pick and choose what you’re gonna take from them,” she said. “I mean, you see me and you see Rafa and he’s just like a machine. There are certain things I see in their games that I can implement in mine.”
Rather than imitate legends' outright, Eala focuses on learning from details, and patterns so she can slowly adapt into her own evolving game, which will be put to test again in this Paris campaign.
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