Rafael Nadal has been closely following Alexandra Eala`s impressive run at the Miami Open WTA 1000 tournament. Eala, an alumna of Nadal`s tennis academy, has been making waves in Miami.
19-year-old Eala has achieved a milestone this week at Hard Rock Stadium, becoming the first player from the Philippines in the Open Era to win three, and now four, main-draw matches at a WTA 1000 event. Entering the Miami Open as a wild card, the world No. 140 player started with a victory over American Katie Volynets, followed by a win against No. 25 seed Jelena Ostapenko in a close match, 7-6(2), 7-5.
She continued her winning streak by defeating Australian Open champion Madison Keys with a score of 6-4, 6-2. However, her most significant achievement came on Wednesday when she defeated World No. 2 Iga Swiatek in straight sets. This victory made her only the third teenage wild card in the last 40 years to beat a Top 2 opponent.
The victory over Ostapenko was also historic as it marked the first time a female player representing the Philippines has defeated a Top 30 player since the WTA rankings were introduced in 1975, and even more impressively, a Top 10 player. Eala is currently the only tennis player from the Philippines, male or female, holding a world ranking in professional tennis.
Throughout her successful week at the tournament, Nadal, her role model who retired from tennis last year, has been supporting the young player from a distance.
After her victory against Ostapenko, Nadal congratulated Eala on her achievement in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
`Congratulations Alex! What a great win for you and for [the Philippines],` Nadal posted.
Eala, who, like Nadal, uses Babolat racquets, has mentioned that her move to Mallorca at the age of 13 to train at Nadal`s academy was a turning point in her career. When she won the junior US Open three years ago, further cementing her place in history, Eala`s popularity in the Philippines (a country with nearly 115 million people) soared. She had over 126,000 Instagram followers before Miami, and has gained almost 30,000 more during her current run, and has also been featured on magazine covers such as Tater and Vogue in her region.
Despite her growing fame, Eala emphasizes that the lessons she learned from Nadal have been crucial in helping her stay focused on improving her game.
`He is so grounded and he has achieved more than anything I could dream of,` she stated in an interview, `and the fact that he is still so nice to everyone around here is very admirable from him.`
Jasper Hawthorne 
Dominic Ashworth