The show must go on.
In the event that Alex Eala will not make it, the Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) have a backup plan to make sure that the Philippine Women’s Open on 26 January at the newly-refurbished Rizal Memorial Tennis Center will still be a success.
PhilTA executive director Tonette Mendoza said the 20-year-old Eala requested that a Filipino player take her slot if her schedule prevents her from joining this prestigious Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 125 competition.
The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate is currently in New Zealand for the Auckland Open as part of her Australian Open preparation.
“So Alex, if she’s unable to use her wildcard, she gave a condition. She said it has to be given to a Filipina,” Mendoza said, speaking on behalf of Philta president John Rey Tiangco and PSC chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio.
“The wildcard decision is needed on January 23. There’s no communication from Indonesia asking for a wildcard for Janice Tjen of Indonesia.”
With the Australian Open main draw matches starting on 18 January, Eala could skip the Philippine Women’s Open if she makes a good run in her first Grand Slam of the year.
Mendoza said preparations for the country’s first WTA event is almost done as they will test it by 12 January.
“The first thing that needs to be finished are the tennis courts. Our deadline for that is on 10 January,” Mendoza said.
“We’re renovating courts 2, 4, 5, 6, and Dacudao and then on January 12, we are going to test the courts and the lights by having a sort of play-offs for the top 8 women players after Alex for the wild card.”
Former world No. 17 and Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic of Croatia, No. 45 Tatjana Maria of Germany as well as No. 57 Xinyu Wang of China, No. 66 Solana Sierra of Argentina, No. 90 Lulu Sun of New Zealand and No. 94 Moyuka Uchijima of Japan are expected to banner the Philippine Women’s Open and give local netters a taste of international competition.