Alex Eala expressed gratitude for the opportunity to play alongside seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams at the Bad Homburg Open.

The 21-year-old Filipino netter cherished her time on the court competing alongside Williams and learning from one of the greatest female tennis players.

It was a short-lived partnership, though, after the duo lost to Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and home bet Olivia Nicholls, 3-6, 2-6, in the quarterfinal last Thursday at the Bad Homburg Tennis Club in Germany.

“Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I’d have the privilege of competing alongside you on court, Venus Williams! Immensely grateful to learn from you,” Eala said.

The Bad Homburg Open was Eala’s final tournament before the Wimbledon Championships.

Eala is seeded No. 29 in the Grand Slam tilt that will begins on 29 June at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London.

Although the Rafael Nadal Academy alumna did not advance deep into the competitive Women’s Tennis Association 500 event, she still pocketed €11,309 (roughly P790,000) for reaching the Round of 32 in the singles competition after a 3-6, 3-6 loss to No. 26 Elise Mertens of Belgium.

She will also split the €9,700 prize money with Williams after reaching the quarters of the doubles event.

Despite the early exit in Germany, Eala still enjoyed a strong buildup for Wimbledon.

She kicked off her grass-court campaign by winning the Birmingham Classic title on 7 June.

Eala also reached the Round of 16 of the Queen’s Club Championships before advancing to the semifinal of the Berlin Tennis Open, where she defeated No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and No. 8 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the same month.

She will march in Wimbledon as the first Filipino singles player to earn a seeded spot at the tournament.

The last Filipino to be seeded at Wimbledon was Filipino-American Treat Huey, who, together with Belarusian partner Max Mirnyi, was seeded No. 2 in the men’s doubles event in 2016.

Eala eyes redemption after suffering a first-round loss to Emiliana Arango of Colombia a year ago.