If there is anything that Alex Eala needs to utilize more in her young professional campaign, it would be her ability to use her left hand.

Former world No. 1 tennis player Martina Navratilova said she wants the 21-year-old Eala to take greater advantage of her left-handed style after making it as far as the Round of 16 of the Wimbledon Championships women’s singles event last Monday.

Eala journey ended when she lost to world No. 17 Jasmine Paolini of Italy, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London.

“She needs to change her grip and use her leftyness more. She was not slicing,” said the Czech-American Navratilova, who won 18 Grand Slam titles during her stellar 33-year professional career that saw her occupying the No. 1 spot for staggering 332 weeks.

“She was hitting most of her serves to Paolini’s forehand, not to her backhand with a slice.”

A left-handed like Eala, Navratilova pointed out that her serve needs to be adjusted after noting that Paolini was able to counter it during their match, costing her the victory that could have sent her to the quarterfinals of the prestigious grass court event.

“So, the serve is where she can gain the most, because she’s tall enough. Her serve should be as good as, if not better than, Paolini’s because Paolini is shorter, so work on that,” the 69-year-old Navratilova, a seven-time Wimbledon champion, told The Tennis Channel.

“Her serve. It’s too much of a puffball. (Iga) Swiatek didn’t handle it well, but Paolini did. She was attacking the second serve.”

In her post-match press conference, Swiatek admitted Eala’s slow serve threw off her game, which led to her 6-7, 2-6 loss to Eala in the Round of 32.

“I think it was tougher mentally for me to accept these missed returns from the slow serves. I got to say it’s much tougher to return a serve like that than a normal serve,” Swiatek said.

“I know it was slow. I know exactly how it’s going to come to me. It’s such a different rhythm from what I usually have a chance to return.”

Navratilova believes that Eala will

Eala is taking a well-deserved break as she gears up for her North American hard-court swing, starting with the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington from 27 July to 2 August.

She is set to reach a new career-high ranking of No. 28 in the Women’s Tennis Association in the coming days as she continues her journey to the top.

Eala admitted she still has a long way to go before she can be consistent against tougher opponents.

“Yeah, I think my serve was not as good today as it was in maybe other matches. But I have days like that. Everyone has days when they don’t play their best tennis,” Eala said.

“I understand that’s part of the job. I don’t think I’m going to be playing the best tennis of my life every single day. I don’t expect that. With that being said, I’m really proud of how I handled things.”

World No. 22 Madison Keys of the United States, who lost to Eala in the Miami Open last year, said things can only get better for the Filipina ace as she gears up for the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the year.

“I got to see pretty much all of it. I think Alex played fantastic tennis. Having been on the receiving end of Alex taking out some of the top players, I know how good she is,” Keys said.

“I know that she can always be dangerous. Watching her today, I think it’s no surprise that she’s playing really good tennis.”