Joan Bosch never needed a crystal ball to see Alex Eala’s potential.

Long before the Filipina star cracked the Top 20, captured her first Women’s Tennis Association title and emerged as one of the hottest names in women’s tennis, Bosch already knew she had something special.

What surprised him was how quickly it all happened.

As Eala prepares for the main draw of the US Open starting 30 August at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, the 21-year-old now finds herself knocking on the door of another milestone.

“I remember that I saw her one day and I was talking to one of her coaches. Alex was, I think, 14 or 15, and I said, ‘For sure, this girl, it’s impossible not to be Top 100,’” Bosch said in an interview on *Diary of a Professional Tennis Coach*.

“For me, Alex is already good. But the question is how good she can be. No one knows.”

Bosch is no ordinary coach.

Apart from his work at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Spain, the 51-year-old mentor is also a national tennis instructor of the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation, one of the oldest national tennis federations in the world.

He also worked with former world No. 1 Carlos Moyá, including during the Spaniard’s triumph in the 2002 Cincinnati Open and the 2004 Davis Cup.