Alex Eala’s looming penalty for possibly missing the China Open may not be too harsh, after all.

The Philippine Lawn Tennis Association (Philta) yesterday clarified that the fast-rising Filipina star will not miss a lot of ranking points should she decides to skip the China Open — a prestigious Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 event — in favor of representing the country in the 20th Asian Games.

Philta executive director Tonette Mendoza told DAILY TRIBUNE on Thursday that Eala will only lose ranking points in the China Open — not for the next 52 weeks as what sideliners initially feared.

Featuring the top 96 players in the world, the China Open is a mandatory event for players inside the top 20 of the WTA ranking like 17th-ranked Eala. It, however, will run from 30 September to 11 October, directly coinciding with the Asian Games that will be held from 27 September to 3 October at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya.

With Eala opting to withdraw from the China Open in favor of shooting for a historic gold medal for the country in the Asian Games, she is flirting with the idea of getting slapped with a $10,000 fine on top of the so-called “52-week zero ranking point,” which Filipinos fear could greatly affect her WTA ranking.

But Mendoza said there’s no need to panic.

“Actually, the ‘52-week zero point’ is just a term. The ruling is that if Alex misses the China Open, she will get zero point in that particular tournament alone — not in all WTA tournaments in the next 52 weeks,” Mendoza, an old hand in both local and international tennis, said in a telephone interview.

“So yes, she will get zero points for 52 weeks – but only in the China Open. And it’s not that those points will immediately be deducted from Alex. Her points will just not increase.”

Eala is not the only elite player to pull out of the China Open. Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu and world No. 9 Victoria Mboko are also not competing due to injuries as well as world No. 37 Hailey Baptiste, Karolina Pliskova, Shuai Zhang and Jacqueline Cristian.

Philta, through Mendoza and secretary general John Rey Tiangco, have already reached out to the WTA to seek for a special exemption for the 21-year-old Eala — the only non-injured player who pulled her name from the Beijing tourney.

The WTA, however, has yet to reply.

There’s a good reason why Eala opted to join the Asian Games instead of the China Open.

The Philippines, in fact, has yet to win a gold medal in the singles event of the Asian Games since the legendary Johnny Jose did the trick in 1962.

Also, the Asian Games offer a pathway to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, boosting Eala’s chances to join Carlos Yulo of gymnastics and Hidilyn Diaz of weightlifting in the ultra-elite list of Olympic champions.

The heavyweights of Asia will also not be seeing action in the Asian Games with world No. 1 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 17 Naomi Osaka of Japan, No. 40 Wang Xinyu of China and No. 51 Janice Tjen of Indonesia all committed to seeing action in Beijing.

Defending Asian Games champion and world No. 52 Zheng Qinwen of China also chose the China Open over a title defense in Nagoya.

But prior to the Asian Games, Eala, who is currently back in the Philippines for rest and training, will compete in the Singapore Tennis Open starting 21 September at the OCBC Arena in Singapore. She will also have the Wuhan Open waiting when she returns to the WTA Tour on 12 October, just days after the Asian Games.

With WTA 250 and 500 tournaments still on her schedule for the remainder of the season, Eala will have opportunities to add to her ranking points despite missing Beijing.

Mendoza said Eala’s brief stay in the Philippines was primarily for training.

“She doesn’t have official events except for training. I know she’s going to Singapore next,” said Mendoza, referring to Eala, who already left Manila for Singapore on Thursday.

“The team that she’s with in Singapore, they will also be in Nagoya.”