As a professional tennis player, Alex Eala’s one job is to play world class tennis in a manner that wins matches. Can it be simpler than that? Her tennis and grace on and off court had, until mid this year, gotten her on the map and in the spotlight that drew the legions of fans that now follow her everywhere on- and offline. All that came because she did the job.
But, see, all those fans and all that attention are just byproducts of all that Eala had worked hard for. Fandom and attention are things cultivated by mere influencers — not people who deliver measurable achievement. The fans and the attention are not the job.
An Inquirer headline several weeks ago captures the whole trouble with this fandom and how much Eala herself had encouraged it: Alex Eala carries Filipino pride into US Open 3rd round. It is something she carries on her shoulders into every match. It’s an even heavier burden now that she is one of the elite players to upset and no longer the charming upsettor that endeared her to her early fans.
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As if the prep and focus that you work hard to bring onto the court weren’t enough. Having an entire nation’s “pride” hitching a ride just adds that extra layer of psychological challenge. That runs counter to the job. To do the job, there should only be Alex, the ball, and the machine on the other side of the net that she has to read on the fly.
Eala graciously never fails to acknowledge her fans and her new-found role as “representative” of her compatriots. That’s nice. But then, reality check, Eala owes her success more to those who were there for her on her journey from obscurity to those first breakthrough wins; less to those who joined the party after she made her mark. More specifically, she can objectively claim to owe success to those who contributed tangibly to her rise up the tennis ranks — her family and close friends, her coaching team, and the Rafa Nadal Academy.
When something in the ecosystem surrounding an elite athlete starts to subtract from that focus on the job, there is cause for reflection. Tennis, like any sport, has clear measures to determine how much or how little you’ve achieved. Those measures don’t factor in the size of one’s fandom. Alex Eala needs to choose between two paths — to be a Filipino hero or to be the best tennis player in the world. She can be the former but not necessarily the latter at the same time. But she will likely be both if she focuses on the latter.
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Alex only needs to prove to herself. She doesn’t have to answer to anyone who will never see her own POV. Especially not to those who only appreciate a filtered version of her.
Indeed. The choice is entirely hers to make. It’s a choice of mindset. Focus on goals as measured by the metrics surrounding the job, or add irrelevant metrics to do with her perceived role as “representative” of Filipinos.
Some people have capacity for distraction. Some only have enough capacity to do the job well.
Why not worship scientists, doctors, and classical musicians who are Pilipinos?
Oh…..hip gyrations, porn stars, me so hornies, cheesy karaoke “singing “ , over smiling, white worship, capitalism , and basketball ballers. That is what failipinos and full of penis wants.
Pinoys worship whatever you see on local over the air noontime television. They are allergic to anything remotely cerebral. They behave as such . Baduy is as baduy does. The most fascinating part of that equation is that baduy will never own the fact they are baduy. We will never own our own baggage. That explains the existence of all the politicians we all complain about . They keep getting reelected. By who??
She is another rich kid, us empire worshipping clown, with tons of trust funder like connections. What is she doing for the real Pilipinos?
She’s not required to help Filipinos because she’s a civilian, she’s not a Philippine government official and she’s not a licensed professional which requires her to do such thing.
That is very American hyper individualistic attitude. It is no wonder why Pilipinos are laughing stocks. We don’t even help our own once we are loaded. Do you worship the us empire ? Theyre disgusting people mostly. Stop the wasp worship. Clean up this cesspool of a fake country, corrupt, crap people, fake smiles, fake tennis, land of fee. USA styles.
Wrong, collectivism is primitive and obsolete. A person’s personal goals are more important than helping strangers with little to no return. Demanding her to help Filipinos without anything in return is crab mentality because you want to pull her down just to lift others. Failipinos always think they’re entitled to rich people’s excess money and resources.
Yes ! And she may addicted to the degenerate and debased American culture that enraptures our third world corrupt dump.
Sorry data, you are propagandized from American feces. We need to emulate real countries and kick out the disgusting sex, war degenerate Yankees.
That is why Filipinos and the Philippines are failures. US boot lickers and they love love love (think us cruise ships serving slop to whites) being exploited and or looking for old white dudes preferably in the war mongering industries.
Collectivism , uniformity and culture are why societies prosper not I gut mine jack attitudes like the American boot lickers.
Failippines is collectivist yet it’s still a third world garbage. American society is individualistic yet it’s still a superpower. Again, why would you drag someone down just to benefit you? Failipino society thinks someone’s excess money is their emergency funds.
You and the rest of the commenters in this post need to realize that Alex Eala is a professional tennis player, not a charity. Her excess funds are not our other people’s emergency funds.