Eala leaves us breathless

Eala leaves us breathless | Daily Tribune

New global tennis star Alexandra Eala’s celebratory and inspiring dream deep-run at the ongoing WTA 1000 Miami Open undeniably gives us all a pleasurable diversion from the current toxic politics.

Watching Eala’s beautiful tennis and absorbing her no-mean, giant-slaying epic feats in Open Era tennis gives us immeasurable joy.

Not least of the immense joy was her insanely jaw-dropping, fearless, self-assured and miraculous toppling of Polish superstar Iga Swiatek — the World’s No. 2 and five-time Grand Slam champ — in straight sets (6-2, 7-5) in the quarterfinals, which propelled her to the semifinals.

An unbelievable stunner that no less than tennis icon Rafael Nadal — whose Mallorca-based Rafa Nadal Academy Eala graduated from — praised his protege: “Let’s keep dreaming!”

Not only did Eala achieve a litany of unthinkable firsts in Philippine tennis but she also did it in spectacular fashion.

She remarkably secured her huge upsets against three formidable opponents in emphatic straight sets which even top-ranked players hardly do, to the extent that “she is the only second wild card to claim three-plus wins over Grand Slam champions in a single Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) level event.”

Of her career-defining upsets over former French Open winner and World No. 25 Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, reigning Australian Open titleist and World No. 5 American Madison Keys, and Swiatek, Eala’s hard-fought upset of Ostapenko in the second round was the first major breakthrough of her four-year-old pro career.

But it was her unceremonious dumping of Keys and Swiatek that enthralled and electrified tennis fans.

While Eala’s magical deep-run left many tennis fans gasping for breath, it also left scores of tennis non-aficionados scratching their heads over unfamiliar tennis lingo like “wild card.”

To get you up to speed, a “wild card” is an “invitation” from a tennis organization to a player who wouldn’t qualify for an event with his or her current ranking but whom tournament organizers will gamble on in the belief that it will draw in more tennis fans.

Of the five categories of players given “wild cards,” 19-year-old Eala — who officially ranks at a faraway 140 but now has a live ranking of 75 — came to Miami as one of eight “young and up-and-coming players.”

Unheralded at first, dark horse Eala has proved her mettle and she definitely has come of age, to the extent that after she walloped Keys even the ebullient Tennis Channel, unbelieving, had to ask: “What happened?”

As a pro player, Eala has been journeying through the year-round demanding worldwide WTA tour as a rare “leftie.”

Playing against left-handed players like Eala and Nadal is in itself already challenging to prepared right-handed players.

(Power-hitter Nadal is even rarer still: he is right-handed but plays as a left-hander.)

Anyway, any powerful left-handed player goes on court with different forehands and backhands, as well as creating different angles and spin trajectories and court tactics that right-handers like Swiatek must account for.

In a postgame interview, Swiatek had this to say: “Her (Eala) being a lefty didn’t surprise me, but for sure, like, she went all in. She made these returns in and pretty long, and so it wasn’t easy to hit back. She was pretty loosened up and just went for it.”

Ruing her loss, Keys noted Eala’s vastly improved intense athleticism and game focus: “When you are playing someone who makes a ton of balls back and absorbs very well, that’s not really the key to success.”

Eala’s unfolding self assurance, speed, aggressiveness, tenacity, discipline and determination to be the best Filipino tennis player is fueling her momentum at the Miami Open.

Yet, Eala self-admits, “I am not a great player, yet.”

We are breathlessly waiting for what she’ll do next.