Alex Eala is still getting used to the fame she has been enjoying as she continues to rise through the ranks in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
The 20-year-old prodigy said she holds herself in high regard as a huge Filipino crowd would often follow her in her matches since making it into the Top 100 of the WTA rankings last year.
“I am learning to deal with a lot of, you know, these cameras and a lot of the times when people see me, the phone is the first thing they reach out for. Which is something that I have to adjust to,” Eala told The National.
“I do value privacy a lot. I think everyone has the right to their own privacy and sometimes being a public figure, the lines are a little bit blurred.”
Top tennis stars like Coco Gauff of the United States and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus have voiced out their concerns on being constantly filmed in the arenas, especially with Gauff who went viral after smashing a tennis racket after her 1-6, 2-6 loss to Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the quarterfinal of the Australian Open last January.
For Eala, an alumna of the world-famous Rafael Nadal Academy, she tries to see the bigger picture as she suffers frequent losses in the WTA Tour.
“The way I cope and I think a part of this journey is learning to be self-aware in terms of knowing what I need to do to kind of step back and regroup because in the end in tennis you lose a lot and some losses are going to be more difficult than others,” Eala said.
“It’s something I guess you have to manage and yeah, it’s tough, and it’s just different in every situation for me. I can’t really I don’t really have like a specific something that I do all the time. It’s just very different each loss.”
Eala is now in the United Arab Emirates, ready for the tough challenges that await her in the main draw of the Dubai Tennis Championships from 15 to 21 February at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre.
She was initially listed to compete in the qualifying round but was eventually given a slot in the main draw of this prestigious WTA 1000 event following her rise to No. 40 in the world ranking.
With that, she is set to face the big guns of professional tennis like Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek of Poland and defending champion Mirra Andreeva of Russia and newly-crowned Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Philippine Women’s Open champion Camila Osorio of Colombia will also join the Dubai tourney along with Donna Vekic of Croatia and Janice Tjen of Indonesia.
Dubai will be her third and final stop in the Middle East after competing in the Abu Dhabi Open and the Qatar Open in the first two weeks of February.
Eala made it as far as the quarterfinal in the Abu Dhabi Open before a heartbreaking 3-6, 3-6 loss to world No. 10 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia last 6 February at the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre.
At the Qatar Open, she suffered an early exit after a 6-7, 1-6 defeat at the hands of world No. 48 Tereza Valentova of the Czech Republic.
Eala will be fresh entering the Dubai tourney as she had at least a week of rest and recovery following a grueling schedule that included stops in Australia and New Zealand early this year.
After Dubai, Eala will fly to the United States for the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open in March.