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.
- Alex Eala has ONE job - September 25, 2026
- Very few of us can play world class tennis, but we can ALL be like Alex Eala - September 5, 2026
- The US Open will make — and make — Alex Eala whatever way it goes for her - August 31, 2026