Tennis Star Alex Eala on Making History—'This Is the Life I Dreamed Of'

It's a cliché to say that the teenage years are a time of quick changes and nonstop milestones. For Alex Eala, though, that truism exists on an entirely different level.

Consider the 19-year-old tennis player's 2025 to date. At the Miami Open, the Filipina ace made international headlines by knocking off Madison Keys and Iga Świątek, two of the top five players in the world. That pushed Eala into the WTA Top 100, making both personal and national history.

Eala was in Spain for the recent Madrid Open during the massive blackout that halted life on the Iberian Peninsula, made her Italian Open debut in early May—where she also reached the doubles quarterfinals with current No. 2 Coco Gauff—and will enter a Grand Slam via the main draw for the first time at the French Open, rather than as a wild card, thanks to her boost in the ranking from No. 140 to 75 after Miami.

Think that sounds like a lot? Well, you're not entirely wrong. But Eala tries to take it in her stride. "Well, for me, I think it's important to keep things simple because sometimes if you read into things too much, it can get very overwhelming," Eala told Newsweek.

"And, you know, with being able to navigate blackouts or navigate losses, you know, in the end, these are experiences that you're going to be talking about in 20 years' time and tell, I don't know, your kids, your friends, 'Oh, this happened.'

"And this is the, like, the life on tour, the life of a tennis player, the life that I've dreamed of ever since I was little. So, to be able to just live it and to be surrounded by all of these great players and great people who've achieved so many things...I feel so grateful and so blessed."

Saying "since I was little" may feel a bit different when a teenager says it, but in this case there is truth to the sentiment. Her parents, Mike and Rizza, encouraged Eala and older brother Miko to play tennis from a young age.

"I started [playing tennis] because it was a way for me to bond with my grandfather. My parents knew that they wanted their kids to really get into sports, and my brother, who's three years older, kind of led the way. I would go as a baby to his practices, and I would watch him. So my parents, when it was time, just decided, 'OK, Alex, it's your turn.' I fell in love with it ever since," Eala said.

And while tennis isn't the biggest sport on the Philippines' athletic scene, that family affair kept Eala engaged as her peers looked elsewhere. "Growing up, a lot of my classmates in school would be playing...volleyball, basketball," Eala said. "They would be dancing, or they would be doing ballet, stuff like that.

"Tennis was such a big part of my life in particular, I was surrounded by so much of it. And, you know, that's how my love for the sport really grew and really fostered."

Reaching the International Stage

Ultimately, though, it was time to move on to a bigger pond. "We all knew that if I really wanted to succeed, I'd have to get out of the Philippines to develop my game," Eala said.

And that opportunity arrived thanks to the Rafa Nadal Academy in the Spanish star's hometown of Manacor, Spain, in 2018.

Moving across the world and dropping into an elite sporting environment might sound stressful, but Eala wasn't daunted. While she might have learned to play tennis far from the sport's traditional hotbeds, she was no stranger to hard work.

"It's definitely an intense environment in the Academy. But it was hella intense when I was back home. You know, we took this thing seriously, I can tell you. My family and I, we really took tennis seriously," Eala said.

"I used to wake up at, like, 4:45. I was in the gym by 5 a.m. at, like, 12 years old. So...we really treasure the sport, and we put a lot of effort into it." Thanks to that effort, the teenager started to fill out her resume. There was a win at the 2018 Les Petits As international tournament in France for 12 to 14-year-olds. Success also started to come at the Grand Slams, including a junior singles title at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Her biggest step into the mainstream, however, arrived in March this year at the Miami Open. Eala drew fifth-ranked Madison Keys in the third round and beat the defending Australian Open champ in two sets 6-4, 6-2. Her reward for that surprise win? Facing second-ranked Iga Świątek, who has won five majors and previously held the top spot in the world rankings, in a quarter-final.

Again, Eala pulled off the upset, winning 6-2, 7-5.

How did she handle those matches? While it's tempting to read into the rankings and make major adjustments to compensate for the star power across the net, the teenager trusted in herself.

"It always has to be a balance," Eala said. "A balance of being demanding with yourself and being confident while also being humble and seeing other great players. And they can, you know, if you're down in the score or if they're making good winners, it's because they're good players too.

"But, at the same time, you cannot think about all they've done; 'Oh, they're a four-time Grand Slam, five-time Grand Slam [winner]. Those are things that I don't think about when I go up against them, because in the end, you can play someone who's [ranked] 150 and they're good players too.

"Tennis is an ever-changing game, ever-evolving game. And, you know, things can happen."

One major thing that happened to Eala was making history. On the back of those two wins, she broke into the WTA Top 100 rankings. Beyond the personal milestone, she was also the first Filipino woman to cross that plateau.

That reality isn't lost on Eala, who, despite her young age, is carrying her home country's flag on the global stage. "It's such a blessing to come from where I come from because I feel the Filipino community is like no other," she said. "We're so proud of our roots and our culture. You know, for me to be able to bring that out and to expose it to...the tennis world and the international scene, this is such a blessing for me to be able to do that."

Staying True to Oneself

Another benefit of her ranking, which rose to 69 after Rome, is automatic qualification into the main draw of the French Open, also known as Roland-Garros, in May, which will place Eala squarely on the world stage. The tournament's iconic clay surface does pose a challenge—it is unique among Grand Slams—but Eala isn't looking to make any drastic changes, despite being knocked out early from the recent Italian Open, also played on a clay court.

"There's always going to be a couple of tweaks, but not in terms of changing your whole game," the left-handed player said, speaking to Newsweek before her defeat in Rome. "Personally...it's important that I stay true to my identity as a player. And I feel that's when I'm most effective.

"But yeah, I think being comfortable on clay is super important. And what's going to get you to that stage is the amount of hours that you spend on this surface, because in the end, most of the year is on hard [court]."

And while results, especially at Roland-Garros, do matter, there's a bigger picture beyond any one tournament. Ultimately, sports are cyclical; no one can stay atop the mountain forever. While that may seem cruel, it is also fair as everyone will get their shot and the best will rise to the top.

That leaves Eala at a crossroads, where she's both claiming the spotlight for herself and laying the foundations for the young girls who will come after her. "The little girls are the best fans," she said. "I think because...in the end, you see yourself in them because at one point in time you were a little girl with a racket, and you wanted to play on the big stages. And what I would want to tell them is...not to try to be the next me, it's to try to be the first them.

"And that's what I always try to tell myself growing up, because I used to look up a lot to [Maria] Sharapova, to Li Na, to Simona Halep. And you know, although they've done great things, I wanted to do my own things.... I wanted to do my own great things."