ALEX Eala’s experience at the Australian Open show that too much adulation can backfire?
Eala’s fans, overzealous about helping her claim victory, created security and venue problems straightaway for organizers. Not just that, but they pushed the boundaries of court decency and made themselves the talk of the tournament with their cheering, clapping, and shouting every time the Filipina’s opponent, Alycia Parks of the U.S., committed errors, even unforced ones, totally breaking long-held tennis etiquette.
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The crowd had become so unruly that the umpire admonished Eala’s supporters no less than six times to refrain from jeering at the American, who got so upset that she asked the umpire several times to reel in the crowd.
Some have since suggested that the crowd be forgiven. It had not seen anything like Eala take centerstage at the Australian Open which is one of the biggest sporting events in Melbourne.
The city is home to more than 100,000 Filipino immigrants, about half of them born in the Philippines but bore children there, making the community one of the biggest Filipino diasporas in Australia.
At Eala’s first-round match, it almost seemed that nearly all of them had descended on the tennis center, filling Court No. 6, one of the smallest with a 1,500 capacity. Unable to get in, these fans followed the action in giant screens set up around the court and in public areas.
It was against this backdrop that Eala opened her match against Parks, a well-built American, 25 years old as against Eala’s 20, ranked 65 against Eala’s 49, and deemed an underdog versus the Filipina who was coming into the season’s first tennis major with a sterling resumé, including a semifinal appearance at a WTA 250 event in New Zealand.
But rankings can be deceptive. Parks may be several rungs below Eala going into the Australian Open, but her record boasts one WTA singles title and two WTA doubles crowns. She has also reached the third round of the Aussie Open and the U.S. Open, plus the second round of both the French Open and Wimbledon, all major tournaments.
Besides this, she packs a mean serve. At the U.S. Open in 2021, she delivered one at 129 mph, tying for the fastest serve by a woman in a major tournament set by Venus Williams at the same tournament in 2007.
This feat did not escape Eala. She reportedly practiced a few times outside the venue with male players to acquaint herself with fast deliveries.
It served her well, initially. She broke Parks three times in the first set, which ended with Eala ending the set at 6-0. Inexplicably, her game deserted her in the next two sets which saw Parks take the initiative and control the match the rest of the way.
The final score: 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 in favor of Parks. Duration: 1hr 55 min.
Why did Eala game desert her?
The result of this match has been dissected by pundits — some knowledgeable, a good number not so much. But the question remains: why did Eala’s game desert her?
One could cite the nearly unbearable weight of expectation that she carried. She understood, by the sheer outpouring of audience support, how painful it would be to let thousands of fellow Filipinos down.
Maybe she was trying too hard and consequently lost her focus, resulting in errors. Maybe it did not help that the crowd had become so noisy, it deprived her of the full concentration she needed.
This doomed her debut in an event that had held so much promise and potential.
On the other hand, perhaps tapping into the same noise and unruly behavior as motivation, Parks could have steeled herself, going to war by raising her level of play, her vaunted serve as her main ammunition.
The New York Times, writing about her news conference following the victory, said: “Parks said that the cheering for missed serves and mistakes threw her a bit, and she found herself focusing on the crowd instead of her game. Then she stopped, and that made all the difference.
“’I was expecting it, but I wasn’t. She definitely has a good crowd. I just kept telling myself to stay in the zone.’”
So, was the crowd to blame for Eala’s exit? Maybe. But had she won, the big credit would have gone to that same crowd.
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