Eala gets rave reviews from Clijsters

A four-time Grand Slam champion couldn’t help but compare Alex Eala to Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan due to her sudden rise in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)

Former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters said in her “Love All” podcast that the 20-year-old has done a lot of the right things so far in her career as her fan base continues to grow every day.

Eala is currently on her career-best No. 31 in the latest WTA rankings.

“She has done great things so far at a young age, but she still has some improvements to get to, and consistency is something that is going to be very important. A lot of players know her now, know her strengths, know her weaknesses,” the 42-year-old Belgian said.

“That’s something that she’s going to have to deal with as well, is to make sure that she can make her strengths become even stronger, but work on some of the weaknesses and deal this life of being like Michael Jordan in the Philippines.”

Clijsters also praised how composed the Rafael Nadal Academy alumna is off the court despite suffering from early exits in the WTA Tour.

“Well, there’s a lot of things that she does really well, and I think there’s a lot of things that make her opponents feel very uncomfortable. You know, one of the things that she can’t control is that she’s a left-hander,” Clijsters said.

“Her forehand is really good, but I think her backhand is better. Her backhand is a little bit more of an aggressive shot, whereas the combination of her aggressive baseline shots with her backhand and then the ability to hit a heavier spin and make your opponent kind of step back a little bit behind the baseline, being able to make the angle with her forehand and open up the court.”

Clijsters has the credibility to back up Eala as she won all her Grand Slams on the hard surface.

She won the Australian Open in 2011 and dominated the US Open in 2005, 2009 and 2010.

Eala will now be focused on her United States as she competes in the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden from 4 to 15 March and the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium from 17 to 29 March.

A good performance in both tourneys could see Eala make it within the Top 30 of the WTA rankings, giving her more access to Grand Slams and WTA 1000 tournaments.