Eala wishes Phl tennis growth

Tennis star Alex Eala hopes to see more Filipinos support and engage in the sport just like in popular basketball and volleyball.

A witness of the overwhelming love and appreciation from volleyball fans at the recently concluded Premier Volleyball League All-Filipino Conference, Eala dreams of someday seeing the same in local tennis.

"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," the 18-year-old netter said.

Eala was part of the Philippine volleyball record-setting crowd of 24,459 that packed the Smart Araneta Coliseum for Game 2 of the Creamline-Choco Mucho finals last 16 December.

The Cool Smashers eventually won the match in five sets to complete a tournament sweep for their seventh PVL title.

Eala, who was among the list of celebrities and sports personalities present during the match, said in an interview that she rooted for Creamline.

Looking at the rising popularity of volleyball in a country that has embraced basketball as a national sport, Eala prays that more Filipino netters would make a name for themselves on the international stage to boost interest from local fans.

"My Christmas wish for Philippine sports… I think specifically for tennis now, the future is bright for the next generation of players," Eala, who won two bronze medals in the Hangzhou Asian Games, said.

"There are two other Filipino doubles players in men's that have been doing well. They were teammates in the Asian Games (Francis Alcantara and Ruben Gonzales). So maybe eventually, they'd be able to participate in Grand Slams."

"With that, I think that the spirit of the sport of tennis will be reignited. I think more and more people will start getting into the sport."

Eala is currently on a much-deserved break after a grueling 2023 season where she won two International Tennis Federation women's singles titles, put the Philippines back in the Asiad tennis map after claiming podium finishes for the first time since 2006, and tying her career-high 189th rank in the Women's Tennis Association ranking this month.

Her achievements and meteoric rise have sparked interest in local tennis.

"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," she bared.

"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 will spend Christmas in Manila before flying to Australia on 26 December for the WTA 125 Canberra International slated to run on 31 December to 6 January.

Eala is also gearing up to get in the main draw of the Australian Open early next year before shooting for the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open stints.