VICTORIA Mboko recalls enjoying bubble tea with Alex Eala when they were much younger. Just two girls indulging in a simple pleasure off the court, their rackets – and dreams of tennis glory – put aside for the moment.
“I've known Alex since the juniors, I mean, I've known her for even longer than that,” the 19-year-old Canadian says. “She's such a sweet girl, she's so nice. We had so many great memories together off the court. We'd go and get bubble tea together.”
It's remarkable how the power-hitting Mboko could speak so fondly of her game Filipina rival after 2 1/2 hours of brutal tennis under the lights on center court at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open in late October.
READ Eala just falls short in two-and-a-half-hour battle with Mboko
Mbuko and Eala have crossed paths many times as juniors campaigners but this was their first meeting as professionals – and what a battle it was. The games took ages to decide, the momentum swung back and forth, with one of them landing what looked like a knockout blow and the other punching back with equal ferocity, if not more. In the end, Mbuko did what a player ranked 20th in the world was supposed to do: find a way past Eala and the Filipina's tireless running and smart returns.
There were a few groans inside the press room at the Victoria Park Tennis Centre when the end came for Alex. Just like hundreds of the mostly Filipino spectators on hand, some of the locals wanted her to continue into the next round.
Later, looking fresh and buoyant rather than someone who had just gone through a strength-sapping test, Alex was asked by a Hong Kong television presenter if she planned to come back in 2026. It's a question normally asked of a champion, not someone who has just lost a round-of-16 match, and the Filipina could not help but flash her megawatt smile. It just shows how, during the week, Eala had managed to charm the locals and endear herself to them, not to mention her peers.
So on a night when her 2025 season was ending, there was an air of celebration and expectation.
While she did not win the title, Hong Kong turned out to be loads of fun and a lovefest with fans, a fitting end to a coming-of-age season of many highs and firsts, one that proclaimed to the world that Eala indeed belonged on the big stage.
The magnitude of what Alex had accomplished in one year alone was unimaginable. Until Eala came along and made the impossible look, well, ordinary.
Consider this: First Filipina to play in the main draws of Grand Slam tournaments (at the French Open and Wimbledon). First Filipina to win a Grand Slam match (at the US Open in September). First Filipina to win a WTA 125 tournament (in Guadalajara, Mexico). First Filipina to be ranked among the world's Top 50. The list goes on.
Mumbai, Montreal, Birmingham, Wuhan, Osaka – the world has opened up to welcome Eala, whose career exploded to life during one extraordinary week in March when, as a wildcard, she upset Iga Swiatek and two other Grand Slam champions on her way to the semi-finals of the Miami Open.
Life was never the same again.
Super sweet and nice are the words often tossed around when fellow players talk about the new kid on the block. But, always, the statements end with a warning about how “fierce” and “very determined” Alex can be on the opposite side of the net.
“Never fun to play at times,” Mboko says.
Miss Congeniality she may be off the court, but between the lines on that rectangular battlefield Alex is a warrior princess. She stubbornly refuses to cede even an inch of territory, bravely repeling dangerous raids by the enemy across the net.
In Hong Kong she was both that, all fight and charm, satin and steel, with victory and defeat encapsulating a season of learning and growth, giving Eala a proper bounce for 2026. It was also important to see that her young body had held up in the face of the physical and mental demands of the WTA Tour.
Eala's subsequent gold-medal win in the Southeast Asian Games – a sentimental journey for her mom who once competed in the same regional meet – and the lucrative exhibition tournament she played in Macau were icing on the cake.
Young player in ascendancy
All signs point to a young player in ascendancy. There is noticeably more pop to her serve, more power to her groundstrokes, without losing any of her precious assets. There is that same fox-quick reaction to an opponent's serve, the same doggedness in chasing balls and, perhaps more than before, a belief that no matter what her opponent throws at her, all it takes is for Alex to figure it out, somehow, and execute. It would seem she hasn't seen a ball she believes she can't reach.
And so, for her legions of fans, and for Alex, most especially, these are exciting times, a moment in her life when the possibilities are boundless and tomorrow cannot come quick enough.
There are bound to be struggles or slip-ups along the way, it's a long season after all. No one is immune to the fickleness of the tennis gods. Not Swiatek, not Aryna Sabalenka, not Coco Gauff or Naomi Osaka. And then there are those young, hungry players nipping at her heels. They too want to take their game to the next level like Alex did.
But none of that may dampen the warrior in Alex.
She's living her dream, isn't that cool?
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