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Put simply, Eala is a monumental star in the south-east Asian country – a nation which has limited pedigree on the tennis circuit. <\/p>\n
Her surprising win over six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek at last year’s Miami Open ensured Eala’s life will never be the same again.<\/p>\n
“This week there were elements that were a bit overwhelming, especially during my practices,” Eala said.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t expect that many people to be there. It’s a learning process. I’m just trying to take it in.”<\/p>\n
Eala, a product of Rafael Nadal’s academy in Mallorca, has long been seen as a trailblazer after becoming the first Filipina to win a WTA Tour match in 2021.<\/p>\n
In 2022, she became the first to win a junior Grand Slam title with her US Open triumph, leading to the then-teenager gracing the cover of Vogue back home.<\/p>\n
Veteran boxer Manny Pacquiao may still be the nation’s most famous sporting star, but Eala’s exploits mean she is the sporting symbol of the next generation.<\/p>\n
“She always carries the flag and the country proudly – that’s something which resonates with everyone,” Imee Vee, a Filipina who travelled from Sydney specifically to watch Eala, said.<\/p>\n
“She’s becoming a national hero. Everyone is starting to stop what they’re doing and tune in to watch her matches. She dominates the sports news, too.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Put simply, Eala is a monumental star in the south-east Asian country – a nation which has limited pedigree on the tennis circuit. Her surprising win over six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek at last year’s Miami Open ensured Eala’s life will never be the same again. “This week there were elements that were a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Australian-Open-2026-How-Alexandra-Eala-and-Melbourne-Park-were.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17695"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17697,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17695\/revisions\/17697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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